Three Faces of EvilPart 3 of the Phantoms Crown S
by ghostwriter56
Summary: Danny must face three evils...His Present, Vlad...His Future, Dan Phantom and a equally deadly evil from his family's past...all at one time!


Title: Three Faces of Evil/Part 3 of the Phantom's Crown Series

Author: Ghostwriter56

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Yada yada yada…we know the story..all hail Butch Hartman and his creative genius cuz these characters are not mine except the ones I add and I thank him for giving us a place to post our humble attempts!

Synopsis: Ok, so I'm not one for sequels, like Walt Disney once said, "You can't top a mouse with a mouse." but this is my sequel to TUE. Danny is facing threats from all sides, his present, Vlad. His future, Dan Phantom and an enemy from his family's past. With the help of Clockwork can he overcome these threats and still get his homework assignment done?

Prologue

The Observants watched with rapt fascination the scene that played out before them on the large time portal in Clockwork's lair. The Master of Time was not at home but that never stopped the Observants from taking advantage of his window into Time.

It was a brightly lit church, festooned with flowers and filled with finely dressed people who anxiously awaited the start of the wedding.

A tall athletic young man of twenty-four stood next to the tall but smaller framed young man of the same age.

"C'mon Danny, pull it in and don't pass out or I'm gonna have to wail on you, in a church." the muscular young man said with a devilish grin.

"Geeze Dash, didn't you get enough kicking me around in High School?" Danny Fenton asked sheepishly, knowing Dash was doing his best to keep his best friend steady at this important moment.

"Dash Baxter? Wasn't he the one who always bullied Danny?" the first Observant asked with a tone of confusion. "I thought Tucker Foley was his best friend, shouldn't he be the one to stand up with Danny at his wedding?"

"This is indeed a strange turn of events. Let us observe more." the second Observant said as they once again turned their attention to the portal.

The music began and everyone stood as the young bride came down the aisle. Danny felt his heart rise to his throat as he watched Sam come to stand next to him in the most beautiful white gown and sparkling tiara.

"You look like a princess." he could barely say as her father gave her a kiss and went to sit down next to her mom who was thrilled just in the fact that her daughter wasn't wearing black on her wedding day!

"I have to, since I finally found my prince." she said just as quietly as a loud sob came from Jack Fenton.

"Oh, Maddie! Our little boy's getting married! My favorite son!"

Danny turned with a pained look to his father.

"Dad, I'm your only son."

"And that's why you're my favorite!" Jack said with a sudden brightness that made everyone in the church laugh, even the minister.

"Let's see if we can get through this without anymore interruptions, shall we?" the minister said to the couple with a smile.

"It's a glorious day when two young people commit to a lifetime together and for Samantha and Daniel it has been a lifetime. They grew up together here in Amity Park and went to college together and now have decided to pledge their love here, forever. If there is anyone here who knows of any reason this couple should not be joined, let them speak now or hear after hold their peace."

A long silence lingered in the air and the minister was just about to speak when the doors of the church blew open and a harsh gust of cold air filled the room, spewing the beautiful flowers about.

"Everyone! Down!" Danny yelled as Dash pulled out a Fenton Ecto Sub Machine Gun from in back of the church altar under a blanket. He threw one to Kwan and the two other young men who were ushers. Jazz who was the Maid of Honor pulled a small Ecto Blaster from her bouquet and motioned for the other girls to get down except for Valerie Gray who stood her ground, grabbing the gun from Kwan.

"Danny, no! Not today!" Sam cried with fear as Danny gently pushed her in back of him to face what it was at the end of the aisle.

A tall dark figure walked slowly down the aisle towards Danny who stood his ground. The wind whipped the long black duster coat like a whip about his legs as he slowly raised his head.

"Tucker." Danny said with hurt in his voice.

The adult Tucker Foley was much more gaunt than his youthful self. He work a tinted pair of glasses that wrapped around his head like a visor. He smiled as he tipped back the wide brim of his black hat to reveal the long jagged scar that ran down the right side of his face.

"Danny," he said with a dark smile. "I was a bit miffed at not receiving an invitation, so I decided to invite myself, that is if you don't mind?"

Danny swallowed hard, trying not to let his clenched hands tremble.

"Not today Tucker. I won't fight you today."

"Tell your 'friends' to put their guns down, we're in a church!" Tucker's voice was dark and full of sarcasm

Danny motioned for everyone to put their weapons down which they did, reluctantly.

"Not that they would do any good against me, I'm not a ghost." he put his hands out to his sides, playfully.

"That's true," Danny said slowly, trying to keep his rising anger in check, "but you are a Ghost Master. How large is your army now?"

Tucker reached out and put a hand on Danny's shoulder and chuckled.

"Wouldn't you like to know? You will know, soon enough when I bring my army to take over Amity Park."

"Why Tucker?" Sam asked in a tiny voice as she moved to Danny's side and he put a protective arm around her waist.

Tucker looked down at the floor before gazing into her violet eyes.

"You are one of many reasons. I loved you Sam. You should be mine."

"I'm sorry Tucker, but I love Danny, I always have…" she tried to explain, only to have him reach inside his long coat and pull out a gunmetal wand with a dark crystal at the tip that glowed. He gave it a quick snap and it folded out to a near six foot long staff that he balanced with his fingertips.

"Danny had it all! The power, the girl…I had nothing, but not anymore! I have power over all ghosts," he said in a hushed voice as he pointed the wand directly at Danny's heart, "even the half breeds."

A bolt of black lightning shot from the wand and hit Danny square in the chest, sending him flying over the altar and onto his back.

Tucker grabbed Sam and flung her down next to Danny.

"Enjoy your marriage Sam, it won't be a long one." Tucker laughed and vanished in a cloud of dark smoke and lightning.

"This does not bode well at all!" the first Observant said, not noticing Clockwork's arrival.

"I must find a way to lock this place up to keep out the riffraff." he sighed laconically.

"Clockwork, you must stop this from happening!" the second Observant demanded, pointing to the screen to find it blank.

"What you have seen is not time but fancy. Danny Fenton has been having some very disturbing dreams and I have been monitoring them." Clockwork explained matter of factly as his form changed from old to young.

"Then what are you going to do about it?"

"How will this affect his future?"

Clockwork floated over to the Time Portal and turned to the Observants.

"As I recall, you placed Danny Fenton in my care. I have been keeping a close watch on him." Clockwork changed again to a young adult and rested the staff he carried in the crook of his arm. "Danny is about to face another difficult challenge that will test his resolve to fight evil and overcome his own fears."

"Hasn't the boy been through enough?" The second Observant questioned.

"If he his pushed too far, he will crack and be consumed by the Evil about him." the first Observer pointed out.

"He must be tested. It is the only way for him to find his way to his destiny."

The two Observants looked at each other then to Clockwork who had a very smug look on his ever changing face.

"No! It cannot be him! That slip of a boy…" the second Observant ranted, waving his thin green hands in a show of protest.

"Could very well be the one who will bring peace and order to the Ghost Zone?" Clockwork smiled as he absently fiddled with the many

watches on his arm. "Yes, yes I too know the legend. The rightful King will come from the world of flesh and spirit. There are countless ways to interpret that story."

"But, you know everything! Is Danny Fenton the future King of the Ghost Zone?" the first Observant asked with crushing urgency.

Clockwork laughed.

"Now, if I told you that, it would ruin the story, wouldn't it? Legends are best left in the misty regions of Fate and Whimsy. Yes, I do know, but I will not tell. As in all things, Nature, Fate and Time must work their ways on Humans as well as we Ghosts. Danny is only beginning his journey and I will not allow him to be burdened by anything that is not vital to his timeline as it now stands and that means any subjection to a future he is not ready for and may never have to be."

"All the more reason for you to be more hands on in your care of the child." the second Observant reprimanded the Master of Time with a dim tone of voice.

Clockwork gave them both a very sour look.

"What do you expect me to do? Bottle feed him? He's fourteen, a bit

old for coddling."

"You have a tendency to take the fun out of things, Clockwork." the first Observant said sourly.

Clockwork nodded in agreement.

"You have given me a task. Danny Fenton is my responsibility as is Danny Phantom and Dan Phantom who is still safely locked away in the Fenton Thermos. I will keep custody of these three and safeguard them. That is my duty. As for you, your duty is to leave me to my work and stop nosing around my home as if it's an open house."

The pair of Observants took the not to subtle hint and disappeared. Clockwork turned around and waved his staff in front of the Time Portal to see Danny lying in bed, shaking from the nightmare he'd just had.

"I'm sorry you have to go through this Danny, but you must grow stronger in your resolve for soon you will be faced with three Evils and you must have the heart to overcome them if you are to someday take your rightful place as our future King."

Chapter I

Danny flew quickly into the heavy foliage of the maple tree. He grabbed his side and winced in pain as he curled up on a heavy branch trying to hide from his tormenter.

He had been fighting all night long. Exhaustion was taking over along with the constant battering he was taking. A small, but painful moan escaped his lips making him cover his mouth in case of revealing his hiding place. It was to no avail as a larger hand reached through the dense leaves and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and pulled him out into the pre-dawn sky.

A hot blast of red ecto-energy sent the small boy spinning to the ground, his body hissing from the assault.

Reaching out his hand to find something to help him to his feet, Danny felt the familiar hand reach out and pull him to his feet as he felt his head spinning from another shockwave. He passed out, unable to feel the warm bands of white energy changing him back to Danny Fenton.

"Really Daniel, I must say I am disappointed in your performance tonight. Your skills are not as sharp as they should be." Vlad Masters' voice took on the tone of a stern school teacher as he stood in front of the boy, bending over with his hands on his hips.

Danny's eyes slowly opened and focused.

He was lying on a deeply padded velvet couch in Vlad's private office on the top floor of the Berkshire Club, an exclusive restaurant owned by Vlad Masters. Danny had been there for a barely civil luncheon with the billionaire only a few months earlier.

"Sorry to let you down, Vlad. Maybe you should go beat up someone your own size, or age." Danny said with hot venom in his voice, despite the weariness in his eyes.

Masters waved his objection off.

"How do you ever expect to make anything of yourself if you cannot defend yourself against me? Honestly, you are a sad excuse for a ghost if ever I've seen one." Vlad sat down on the far end of the couch as Danny slowly sat up. The older man looked at the child with a mixture of superiority and concern.

"If you can teach yourself, so can I." Danny said with a wince of pain, holding his side again, looking away from the older ghost. He took a deep breath and the pain eased and he let go of his side.

Vlad shook his head.

"I was ten years older than you are now. You are only a child! A babe in the woods with these powers! Why are you so stubborn?"

"I told you before, your price is too high." Danny said wearily, wincing from the headache that had just come on. Vlad reached into his jacket and pulled out a test tube filled with a light blue liquid. He held it out to Danny.

"Drink this, it will relive your pain much quicker than an aspirin."

Danny shook his head.

"Christmas Cookies! You are the most stubborn…I'm not going to let you make me loose my temper." Vlad took a deep breath and pushed the vial into Danny's hands. "Now be a good boy and drink that. I often use it when I've had a rather rough time of it."

Danny grimaced knowing Vlad hated to see him in pain. He drank the liquid in one gulp and leaned back on the couch. The potion did it's job and Danny felt free from the pains of battle.

"Good stuff, you should market it, could help a lot of people." Danny offered, putting the vial down on the marble top table next to him.

Vlad laughed.

"It only works on ghosts and hybrids like ourselves, my dear boy! Help people! My you are precious!" Vlad's tone took an ominous turn. "Why should we help those weaker than ourselves? This world and the Ghost Zone are ours for the taking!"

"And there you go again! Always with the power trip!" Danny sighed as he got up from the couch and went over to look at the large rose stained glass window. The full moon was out and filtered through the multi-colored glass, bathing the room and Danny in muted tones of its daytime glory. "You have everything anyone could want, what more is there?"

Vlad looked at Danny with a selfish smile.

"You're young, idealistic, hopeful. Those things fade with time, my dear boy. As you grow older, you will realize that your heart needs more than faith hope and love. It needs power, control and money."

Danny turned and faced Vlad with a frown.

"You're a very sad man if you think that's all there is to life. I know you give huge sums of money to several charities. Doesn't that make you feel good, that you're helping someone?" Danny's childish voice made Vlad laugh again.

"Oh Daniel! You are so naive! I give money as a tax deduction, nothing more! The only person in the world I want to help is you, my dear child! You make it hard with this idealistic crusade you have set yourself on. Saint Daniel of The Downtrodden! The moniker suits you. You and your little friends off helping keep the bad ghosts at bay! It must get terribly lonely in that ivory tower you live in?" Vlad asked wickedly. He rose from the couch and walked slowly over to Danny and stood inches behind him.

"I won't betray my family. I won't be your puppet, it's that simple." Danny's voice was quiet, but filled the room with a youthful optimism that almost made Vlad gag.

"They don't deserve you. They may be your physical family, but I am your ghostly one. I am the only one in the world who understands how unique and special you are."

Vlad's words cut into Danny like a cold breeze as he shivered slightly. Vlad was right. No matter what their disagreement, they were bound by the same touch of fate, the Fenton Portal.

"I want to teach you." Vlad said, almost as a plea to the boy. Danny spun around and faced him.

"Then teach me! I want to learn!" he threw his arms up in the air, exasperated at this cat and mouse game. "I would love nothing more than to have you tell me what I'm doing wrong, how I can be stronger, better…I need to be better at this!"

Vlad grabbed Danny's hands firmly in his and let his dark blue eyes bore into they boys' much lighter ones.

"I can make you that, Daniel! I can make you the most powerful ghost ever and the most powerful man, for a price."

Danny let out a heavy, sad sigh.

"You want me to renounce my father, break my mom and sister's hearts, be your puppet, do whatever you say and pretty much sell my soul to you."

"It's not much to ask for what I'm offering," Vlad smiled, still holding tight to Danny's hands as he looked down on the child. "You can help them, give them whatever they want, but you must belong to me to accomplish that."

"I'm not for sale."

"Everyone has a price."

"Not me."

Vlad's eyes grew dark with Danny's defiance. Slowly, he applied pressure to Danny's hands. He gasped as the man's hands pressed on his like twin vice grips. The pain quickly brought Danny to his knees with only a gasp of pain, holding the rest inside.

"Is this how it must always be between us? I will always have the upper hand, and you know that. Without me, you are nothing." Vlad let go of his grasp and walked back to the couch and sat down.

Still on his knees, hunched over, Danny looked at Masters through the long locks of black hair hanging over his eyes.

"Is this how you want your son? On his knees in pain because he displeased you? A real father loves, a real father forgives. You're an empty shell." Danny laughed as a tear of pain ran down his face. "You are right about one thing," he said, slowly rising to his feet. "We are nothing without each other, but at least I'm nothing with a family. You're nothing with nothing!" Danny smiled bitterly as he shook out his hands, the pain subsiding quickly from the potion he'd drank earlier. "I have to go, it's late and I have to somehow get through the school day without falling asleep."

"You've missed the whole point." Vlad smiled, pointing to Danny as he changed back to Danny Phantom.

"What, the one on your head? Couldn't miss that!" Danny snapped back.

"Charming!" Vlad said drolly. "No, what the point is. The future, Daniel."

"What about it?" Danny asked impatiently.

"I need to know, will your ghost powers pass on to your progeny?"

"My what?"

"Your offspring, you dunce! Sometimes your as thick as your father!"

"Hey, I'm not even dating yet, why should I worry….." Danny stopped in mid sentence, realizing the impact of Vlad's concern.

"Your own mortality? Don't you ever wonder what you will leave behind Daniel? Will your children inherit your abilities? It is a burning question, don't you think? Or do you ever bother to think?" Vlad pushed the issue.

Danny shook his head.

"Haven't really given it any thought, Vlad. What with school, catching ghosts and these little tea parties you throw, who's got time to worry about stuff like that? I haven't even hit puberty yet! It's gonna be awhile before we find the answer to that question, if ever." Danny shrugged off Vlad's prying questions, but knew they would come back to haunt him at a later date.

"I have no children, so no way of knowing, whereas you are young and the attraction between you and the lovely Miss Manson is almost palatable." Vlad teased, causing a slight blush to come to Danny's ghostly cheeks.

"She's not my girlfriend, she's just my friend." Danny lamely gave the old standby excuse.

"She is someone I would approve of as a future bride for you. She's smart, rich, pretty and knows how to keep a secret. You need not look further." Vlad ticked off the assets of Sam, making Danny squirm.

"Nice to know I have your dark blessing on it, should it ever happen."

"Daniel, this is serious! I have to know if these powers will pass down to others." Vlad said with great intensity, pointing to Danny.

"Then get married and find out for yourself! They say you're never too old!" Danny sneered back at the man. Vlad's eyes went red.

"You know the only woman I ever loved is married to that buffoon father of yours! For me, there is no one else, but for you there is Miss Manson. Your feelings for her run deep, child, very deep. In a couple of years you'll see her quite differently, believe me on this. Love does strange things to the mind."

"What would you know about love?" Danny asked, impatient to be on his way, but knowing he wouldn't get far until his audience with Vlad was concluded by him.

Vlad's eyes returned to their normal color.

"You ask many good questions Daniel. I'm glad to see your mind is growing sharper if your abilities are not. Creatures such as we do not need love, we need power. That's what we survive on. Raw power, my boy. Once you taste it, nothing can take it's place."

The room fell into a frightening silence.

Danny moved across the room and sat down next to Vlad on the couch and looked at him with all the honesty in his heart.

"Ok then, here's my proposal. If you can look me straight in the eye and tell me with all the honesty than I'm giving you that you love me, I'll go home, pack my bag and leave my parents a note telling them that I've gone to live with you. It has to be honest Vlad, right from the heart and I'll know if you're lying." Danny said with great courage.

The air in the room hung like an old drapery ready to rip in two. Danny waited, Vlad pondered.

Vlad got up and turned away from Danny.

"Go home Daniel, I'm too weary to play your silly games."

Danny let out a sigh and floated to Vlad and grasped him by the arm.

"I'm sorry for you, both of you."

Danny flew out the stained glass window into the early dawn.

"Nice move Daniel, very nice. You're learning to play this game, but do you have what it takes to beat the Masters Touch? I wonder…" Vlad changed to Plasmius and left his club through the roof of the building.

Chapter II

"Dude, you did what!" Tucker nearly dropped his lunch tray on the floor as he walked to an empty table with Danny and Sam. He had just told them of his all night encounter with Vlad.

"You're playing with fire, Danny! What were you thinking?" Sam demanded as she sat down with the boys.

Danny shook his head, trying to toss the sleepiness from it. He had nearly fallen asleep in two classed that morning and was on the verge for his next class, Science with Mr. Lancer.

"You guys don't understand. Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to say no to him? He's the only one who can really teach me what I need to know."

"But Danny, what he's asking in return…" Sam gently reminded him, squeezing his hand.

"I know, I know…it's just not fair!" Danny pounded his fist on the table angrily, his tired blue eyes flickering with his frustration. "Why do the bad guys have all the power? Why do I have to struggle? It's not fair!"

"Hey, let's change the subject! How about that History assignment we got this morning? Genealogy? Our own family history? That's weird." Tucker said, digging into his lunch with his usual gusto.

"Well, it's better than reading some dusty old book about people who have been dead for three hundred years or more." Sam added as she ate her lunch.

"That's all I need! Another way to show the world the Fentons are a bunch of loonies! I can just imagine how many kooks are locked away in our family closet!" Danny bemoaned as Dash Baxter walked up to their table only to stop and sneer at the three friends.

"Can't wait to hear your family history report, Fenton! You're the only kid in school who will have to go to the county nut house to find their family tree!"

"Leave him alone, Dash. He's been through enough lately. Last thing he needs are more nut house cracks like that!" Tucker said defiantly, a very rare feeling for the techno-geek. His thoughts went back two months when Danny had been driven temporarily insane by the evil demon ghost Dr. Wadsworth and Vlad Plasmius. A plan that came too close to succeeding if it hadn't been for him, Sam and Jazz. The fact that Kwan and Dash had spread the news all over Casper High didn't help.

"Let it go, Tucker," Danny said with a slightly wicked smile and hooded eyes as he turned to face the bigger boy. "after all, I may have to go to the nut house to track my family down, but at least I don't have to go to the primate exhibit at the Amity Park Zoo."

Danny had said it just loud enough for the surrounding tables to hear him. It seemed everyone exploded into laughter directed at Dash who boiled with anger. He looked like he was about to exploded as he reached out and grabbed Danny by the back of his shirt and spun him around. Now grabbing the front of his shirt, Dash lifted the smaller boy into the air with his left and pulled back his right fist to deliver a punishing blow when the room suddenly went hazy and everything seemed to move in slow motion until it stopped.

A blast of blue spinning light appeared next to Danny and Dash. It stopped to reveal Clockwork.

"Time Out!" he commanded as the last fragments of time froze where they were. Tucker and Sam half way out of their seats to rescue their friend, others laughing or eating. The entire school was frozen in time.

In his aged form, Clockwork reached into the deep recesses of his purple cloak and pulled out one of his time medallions and slipped it over Danny's head.

Danny winced as he was waiting for the fatal blow from the bully, only to find it didn't come. A gloved hand pried him from his assailant and he dropped to the floor.

"Clockwork?" he said in stunned amazement as the ever changing ghost changed to a child and offered his hand to help Danny to his feet.

"It's good to see you again, Danny. How ever do you get yourself into these predicaments?"

"Well, when you the favorite target of the school bully…what are you doing here? You didn't come all this way just to save me from a beating, did you?" Danny asked.

Clockwork laughed softly.

"No Danny, I didn't. Let's go for a walk, or a flight if you like, don't worry, no one will see you."

Danny smiled as he changed into his ghostly form and slowly floated out of the cafeteria and down the halls of the school.

"To answer you question of why I am here, it seems that the Observants have decided to place you in my care and keeping along with your alternate evil self, oh don't look alarmed. Dan Phantom is still in the Fenton Thermos and cannot escape."

Danny looked puzzled as he asked the changing ghost,

"I don't understand. If I have changed that future, kept it from happening, then how is it that he's still alive?"

"Very good question, Danny! You are much brighter than you give yourself credit for. It's a very complex answer, suffice to say that a ghost as powerful as Dan cannot be destroyed with a mere change in a time line shift. The best solution is to take him out of time, into the Ghost Zone and to my castle where time is what I say it is. I think that's the best explanation I can give you without giving you a headache." Clockwork's adult self smiled.

"I'll take that, just as long as he doesn't get loose again. I don't think I could deal with my jerky older self again!" Danny sighed. "So, someone higher up the ladder decided that I need a babysitter?"

"I wouldn't say that. My job is to keep you on your proper time path, to keep events like our last encounter from occurring again. That doesn't stop me from just coming for a friendly visit, you don't mind, do you?"

Danny floated into the Teacher's Lounge and sat down in one of the soft chairs next to a frozen Mr. Lancer who was going over some test results before he was caught in Clockwork's time freeze. A mischievous smile crept over Danny's face.

"Danny, don't take advantage of other's predicaments." Clockwork warned, pointing his staff at the boy.

Danny's shoulder's drooped as he crossed his arms and snuggled back in the chair.

"See, that's one of the things I think is so unfair about being part ghost. Vlad Plasmius can do anything and no one catches him! I sneeze in ghost mode and I'm busted!"

Clockwork chuckled as he changed into the old ghost.

"Suffice to say, all of his actions will eventually catch up with him, that I can promise you."

"I know, but it just seems so unfair at the present! Dash Baxter is always pounding on me, it's not right."

"That's the predicament of Good, it always seems to be at a disadvantage, but never really is. You don't strike me as one to want to talk philosophy."

"I'm not the deep thinker in the family, that's Jazz, my sister…oh, I guess you know about her, huh?" Danny blushed slightly with embarrassment as the old ghost beckoned him with his staff to come with him. They left the Teachers' Lounge and headed down the long corridor.

"Your sister, an amazing young lady. Does it bother you that she knows your secret?"

"No. Jazz has been super about the whole thing. I guess maybe I should be more open with it too. I've never taken her flying, I really should." Danny said with self chastisement. He was still feeling a bit uneasy at having someone else know his secret. Jazz could be hard enough to deal with on a good day!

"I think that would be an excellent idea Danny. Let her see into your world more. You will find her a noble ally. Speaking of family, you have a special project for your History Class?"

"A Genealogy of my family. Pretty lame, huh?" Danny asked, moving slightly ahead of Clockwork and turning to face him as the old ghost changed again into the child.

"Oh no! Family History is very important. It tell us who we are and why we are. How would you like the chance to meet these people face to face?"

"Huh?" Danny slammed into a locker as Clockwork's offer took him off guard and off course.

Clockwork laughed out loud as he offered a helping hand to Danny.

"How ever do you fight Evil and stay in one piece is a remarkable work in itself!"

"Some days I wonder myself." Danny muttered.

"Well then Danny, what if I take you back in time, say 1918 to visit your Great Great Grandfather Tobias Fenton? That's 86 years in the past, I tell you this because I've seen your grades and know you're bad at Math."

"Whoa! Plasmius said the very same thing!"

"Yes," Clockwork said darkly, changing to the adult. "I know much of Vlad Masters and his ghost Vlad Plasmius. A very cruel man he is to fight a fourteen year old boy, but to get back to the purpose of my visit. You can take Sam and Tucker along with you if you like, and I think your sister Jazz should go too. Something in the past she may find useful as well."

Danny leaned against a locker and looked at the Master of Time with a wariness in his face.

"I got a feeling there's more to this than just wanting to help me with my homework. What's really going on, Clockwork? Is my family in danger again?"

Clockwork returned Danny's gaze with a rueful one.

"Very good Danny, very good indeed! I can see now why Plasmius wants you as his son so badly. You need to go back to save the family of your past in order to keep the family of the present and future."

Danny growled at the cryptic reply.

"In case it's not in my school records, Clockwork, I'm not very good at riddles or puzzles either. So why don't you just spill the whole story now and save us both a lot of time and grief?" Danny's voice had a tint of impatience. Clockwork merely smiled and pointed his staff at the ghost boy.

"You must learn to trust me, Danny. I want you to succeed and achieve greatness, that is your destiny if you open your heart and mind to the possibilities. Only those truly worthy of greatness are given tests of courage and conviction. This is one of those times for you."

Danny hung his head as if defeated.

"What if I just want to be normal like everyone else?" his quiet voice asked.

Clockwork changed again to an old man and pulled his staff back and reached out and took Danny's chin in his free hand and gently pulled his face up to his.

"Normal is not a word for beings like us, Danny. We are made for a purpose higher than mundane life affords. We are here to serve and protect those who that life is made for. You don't understand now, but someday you will. Now, I shall call for you at your house at…"

"My house! Are you nuts! Just float in and say let's go kids? Maybe that works for Peter Pan, but my folks are ghost hunters!" Danny squeaked in shock as he moved away from the old ghost.

Clockwork laughed heartily.

"Oh Danny! You are humorous to say the least! Just be in your parent's lab at six this evening, you, your sister and your friends and leave the rest to me? Good, now I think we should put things back the way they were and as for Mr. Baxter, I think I can arrange a more suitable opponent for him."

Danny nodded and changed back to his normal self. Clockwork removed the time medallion from Danny, then hit the button on his staff and commanded,

"Time In!"

He quickly spun the staff and disappeared into a flash of blue light.

"This is gonna take some getting use to." Danny sighed as he headed down the hall.

The snap back into regular time went unnoticed by anyone, except Dash Baxter who suddenly found himself holding up by his shirt, not Danny Fenton but Mr. Jenson, the small but forceful teacher of his Social Studies class.

"Is there a point to this display of brute force, Dash?" the small man asked as Dash squealed in fear and let the man drop from his hand and to the floor.

"I …..I….uh, I thought….Fenton…..oh man!" Dash stammered as the teacher got up and pulled a small pad of paper from his tweed jacket and wrote a quick note and shoved it into Dash's chest.

"My classroom, this afternoon, detention."

"But, but I've got football practice…" Dash cried out as the teacher left the room.

"What just happened?" Sam asked as she and Tucker gathered their trays.

"I don't know, but I bet Danny knows." Tucker affirmed as they walked past Dash who crumpled the note in his hand and screamed,

"Fen-ton! I don't know how you did this, but you're gonna pay!"

Chapter III

"Danny, what is going on, why are we all here? You know Mom and Dad don't like us down in the lab when they aren't home!" Jazz leaned against the lab countertop across from where Danny stood at the Fenton Portal. He was lost in though as he gazed at the black and red box on the other side of the portal where the Spectral Deposit Box was mounted.

This was the one that his father had built to process those ghosts who meant to harm his family, especially Danny. The new version tagged the ghosts before they re-entered the Ghost Zone with a special band that kept them from coming through the Fenton Portal. Danny's hand absently reached out to the box as Jazz bolted across the room and nearly tackled her younger brother.

"Danny! Don't ever, ever touch that box! Dad doesn't even want you within three feet of it!"

"Sorry, just fascinates me, that's all." Danny mumbled. Jazz put her hands on her brother's shoulders as she stood behind him.

"I just don't want to see you hurt anymore. You're braver than anyone I know, Danny."

Danny reached up and patted Jazz's hand on his shoulder, as Tucker and Sam came down the stairs. The tender sibling moment was broken as the two jumped away from each other.

"Ok, we're here, what's the big surprise?" Tucker asked.

That very moment a flash of blue light appeared in the room, spinning about, only to stop quickly and reveal Clockwork.

"I'm pleased to see you're all on time, very pleased."

"Danny! It's a ghost! Stop it!" Sam cried out as she looked around for a Fenton Thermos.

"Sam, it's ok! This is Clockwork, you've met…oh wait, you don't remember and Jazz, you don't know. Ok guys, this is Clockwork, The Master of Time, enough said." Danny said with a quick clip in his voice.

"Wait, man I'm confused already!" Tucker moaned as he hopped up on one of the lab countertops.

The adult Clockwork changed to the elderly one as the three teens gasped.

"It's rather simple in fact," Clockwork said floating about the room, examining all the various pieces of equipment. "I am going to send you all back to 1918 to stay with the Fentons of that time line, your Great Great Grandfather Tobias and his family."

"Hey! That's cheating! How come Danny gets to go meet his ancestors and we can't?" Tucker protested. Clockwork floated over to him, changing into the child version of himself. He smiled, poking the small version of his Time Staff in the boys' chest.

"If it wasn't for my, so called cheating, you wouldn't be here, now would you?"

Tucker shot a confused look to Danny who addressed the ghost.

"I never told them about what happened in that other time."

"What other time?" Sam asked.

Clockwork nodded his approval.

"Very wise of you Danny. Some things are better left in the shadows of the past, or in this case, a past that happened but is now no more."

"Wait, wait wait, this is getting way too confusing!" Jazz protested to the ghost who changed again to his adult form. "and can you please stop doing that, that changing thing? It's very distracting."

"Sorry, but it's who I am." Clockwork apologized to her then turned to face all the teens. "You three know that Danny Fenton is also Danny Phantom. There is a reason he must go back in time, other than a school paper. I will not tell you more than that. Time will unravel the mystery and present a test for Danny."

"A test? Why does he need to be tested?" Sam asked earnestly.

Clockwork again changed his form to an adult as he spoke.

"All great heroes of history have been tested in many ways. Danny is one of these heroes, chosen by Forces beyond mere mortal or ghostly realms. Suffice to say, Danny has chosen Good and Good has chosen him to be it's Champion in this time, but there is danger in the past now that he is part ghost and he must go back in time and set events right. He will need the three of you to help him and stand by him, for this will not be an easy task."

Clockwork looked at the three children, their fear and confusion showing clearly in their expressions.

"I'm not forcing you to go, the choice is yours."

The room was silent for a moment before Jazz spoke.

"There's no choice, he's my brother and I'm going, besides who knows what neat things we can find out about what life was like in Amity Park in 1918."

"I'm in too. Even if I have to wear some funny clothes, it'll be fun!" Sam smiled as she joined Jazz and Danny who instinctively wrapped his arms around them.

"Oh, that reminds me," Clockwork reached underneath his cloak and produced a rather worn carpet bag. "Inside you will find the proper clothing for the period you are going to. You children will have a hard enough time blending into your surroundings without your clothing being a dead giveaway, besides it will give you an appreciation of what your ancestors had to endure for the sake of fashion."

"Clothing for four of us? In that little bag?" Jazz asked with skepticism as she took the bag from the ghost and poked inside.

"Jazz? What part of "The Master of Time" didn't you understand? Space/Time Continuum, hello brilliant sister of mine!"

"So much for the Fentons being a family of geniuses!" Sam snickered.

Danny turned his gaze to Tucker. "Well Tuck, how about it? Up for a little time travel?" Danny said with a smile.

"I don't know," Tucker replied quietly as he slipped down from the lab countertop. "The lack of technology will be horrible enough, but I got a real bad feeling about this, like something is really gonna go wrong."

"All the more reason we have to be there, Tucker. Danny is gonna need us, all of us. Why else would this guy want us to go?" Sam explained, hooking her thumb towards Clockwork, who again changed into the old version of himself.

"No, not this time, I, I can't." Tucker stammered. Danny looked with concern to Clockwork.

"Is there something there that will hurt Tucker?"

"Only he will find that out. It's his choice, but we must be going." Clockwork said reaching into his robe and pulling out a sparkling gold pocket watch. He took Danny's hand and placed the watch in it.

"This is your key to the Time Portal you will use. Keep it with you at all times. It's simple to use. You must all hold hands and Danny will lead. As you step into the Ghost Portal, push the stem down and the watch will use the Ghost Portal as a time portal, taking you exactly where you are now, but 86 years in the past."

"But, the way we're dressed, how will we explain who we are?" Jazz asked as the ghost once again changed into the child.

"It will be easier than you expect. Your family is very open minded and the fact that they have a prototype portal in that year…"

"Wait, I remember Grandpa Fenton telling us about that once! I thought it was just a made up story since they never found the portal or any plans for one, but it really exists?" Jazz asked with great excitement at finding out a family secret.

"What about my Ghost Powers? Do I tell them?" Danny asked.

"Trust your heart, Danny. It has never lead you astray."

Danny walked to the front of the portal, the glow of it's green entryway flickering across his face. He turned and held out a hand to Tucker.

"C'mon Tuck, it'll be fun! Nothing bad is gonna happen."

"Except the lack of technology! Ok, you win, but if I have a nervous breakdown due to the lack of exposure to electronics…."

Sam grabbed Tucker's hand and Jazz's and she took Danny's. He took a deep breath and stepped forward into the portal, pushing the stem down on the watch as he did.

The familiar green glow of the Ghost Zone vanished into a silver white spinning funnel, dragging the four children into the past.

Clockwork nodded with approval as the two Observants appeared in the lab.

"So, he has swallowed the bait?" the First Observant asked with hopeful anticipation.

"I wouldn't say bait, but he has gone to the past and it's there he will come to terms with his very being. He has a reason for being here and needs to find out for himself." Clockwork said calmly floating towards the portal. "I will monitor the situation as it develops. Have no fear for the boy, he's in my safekeeping." Clockwork went inside the portal with a brilliant flash of green, leaving the two Observants looking at each other.

"It's when Clockwork becomes over confident that I worry." the first Observant said to his counterpart.

Chapter IV

In 1918 Amity Park, the richest man in town was Uriah Fenton. Brother of Danny's Great Great Grandfather Tobias and Danny Fenton's Great Great Grand Uncle. His sprawling estate stood where the old Townsend Mansion would be in a matter of years.

Uriah was tall and muscular for his time. His black wavy hair worn a bit longer than the current short styles of his day, which only served to make him stand out and bring out the prominent cheekbones and deeply set eyes of midnight blue. He always was dressed in the finest cut clothes and had a smile that melted every woman's heart he graced it with.

Unlike his brother Tobias, Uriah was cultured with a smooth, almost slick gracefulness about him that made every matron in town practically toss their unmarried daughters at him come every social occasion he frequented! He owned a local clothing factory which employed many people and child labor which being touted by activists as horrific, was still very legal at the time and cheap, making Uriah a very rich man. He did contribute generously to many of the local charitable organizations, making him a saint in the eyes of most of the citizens of Amity Park.

But as the saying goes, he was too good to be true.

His house had been built with several secret passages that led from the basement to a tower room and then to the large widows walk on the roof from where he could watch the ships coming and going and most of the activity in town. It was through this secret passage that he moved, wearing a dark silk robe with heavily embellished embroidered emblems about it. He pushed a panel on a dusty landing that opened and admitted him to a room that looked to be a cross between a lab and a library. He moved across the room and pulled a curtain to reveal a heavily gilded mirror on the wall.

"You say you have word of what I need, speak and reveal your message." Uriah commanded the framed glass.

The mirror became cloudy and gray as a mist floated beneath the glass and sparkled dimly in the candle light of the room. A cold, haunted voice came from deep inside the glass.

"The key to your destiny has arrived at last! The blood child of your line to seal your ascendancy to be Ghostmaster."

"Show me." Uriah said and watched as the mist formed a circle and parted to reveal an image of Danny Fenton.

"This boy is the key to all power of the Ghost World," the voice of the mirror explained in a harsh whisper which sent a chill down Uriah's spine. "For the ascendancy to take place, you need the ghost of one soul."

"I know that! I've tried with several spirits and failed, none had the power…" Uriah said darkly, reminded of his past failures to secure power. He was a master of the Dark Arts, but wanted even more. In one of his spell books he came across a legend of a Dark Master who secured power over ghosts, thus becoming a Ghost Master, commanding and army of ghosts to do his bidding. Since finding that story, Uriah made it his life's work to repeat that spell and make himself Ghost Master.

"This boy is of your blood, making the connection stronger. He is from the future." the ghostly mirror added.

Uriah grabbed a small book on a nearby table and threw it at the mirror.

"You fool! What good is a child of the future doing me now? I'm a Dark Master not a Time Traveler!"

"If you will be patient, my lord, all will be revealed and don't throw any more books at me or I will come out of this mirror and pound sand up your nose!" the mirror said with great indignation.

"Sorry," Uriah said shortly, turning away and leaning on the table he'd taken the book from, "but there is no way I can travel to the future."

"He is here, in this time."

"What!"

"Yes, the boy, his sister and two friends are staying with your brother Tobias." the mirror informed coolly.

"But how, how do I get the boy here, kill him and then take his spirit?" Uriah wondered.

"The boy is already half ghost and very powerful. All you need do is draw the power out of him and transfer it to you."

Uriah looked at the mirror with a harsh glare.

"How can this be? How can any living being have the abilities of the spirit? Show me."

The mist in the mirror parted and played several quick clips of Danny in battles with his enemies, each scene showing a different power and ability. Uriah was amazed by what he saw. He reached out and lightly touched the surface of the mirror as the last scene of Danny faded into the mist.

"Then this is the one I've been searching for! He is also a blood relative which will insure no rejection of the powers by my body. What is the boy's name?"

"Danny Fenton. Named for his great grandfather Daniel, son of your brother Tobias."

"Yes and that will cause a problem," Uriah muttered and turned away from the mirror. "To insure I keep these powers for myself, my brother and his son must perish, then these powers will be mine without this Danny coming back in time for them. That will be easy enough, my brother is a big trusting fool, but how to get young Danny to my inner sanctum where I need to perform the ritual?"

"You must win the boy over. Show him you can be trusted." the mirror offered mildly. Uriah waved a hand at the suggestion.

"If he is as perceptive as he is powerful, he will see right through me. Perhaps using one of his friends to lure him here? First I want to see him in action for myself, that can be easily arranged without his knowing. I shall go this evening to my brother's home to meet the dear child." Uriah smiled as he crossed the room and opened the door to a glass greenhouse that sat on a large bench. Inside were two rose bushes bearing black flowers that were near bloom.

"The Black Rose. They said it was extinct, but I brought it back and will harness its powers. It is the only way to render my dear nephew powerless as I take what is rightfully mine. To have the powers of a ghost in the flesh is to rule the world and I shall, no matter who tries to stand in my way." Uriah laughed wickedly as a cloud that blocked the moon drifted by, bathing the madman in a pool of cold blue light.

Chapter V

"Toby, you'd best be coming along for your dinner will be cold as a stone!" the cheerful but stern Irish woman's voice called from the upstairs landing to the basement of what would become the Fenton Works in 2004.

However, this was 1918.

"I'll be along straightaway, but I just need to make one more adjustment on this portal…" Toby Fenton called back as he heaved a sigh, looking at the six foot tall wooden frame on the back wall of the basement. It led to a small open area behind the wall, similar to the Fenton Portal of the future. Toby was similar in build to his Great Grandson Jack Fenton, a heavy set man, but strong like a bull with a heart like a puppy. He pushed a hand through his wavy dark hair and rubbed the back of his neck. Bending over a great bundle of cloth insulated wires, he worked at the loose connections until he made the last connection.

The large wooden frame suddenly sprung to life with a humming and a blast of green light.

"Kat! Daniel! Come down here! It's working! By Jingo, it's working!" Toby bellowed as a stocky woman with a head piled with disheveled red hair came running down the stairs followed by a boy of fourteen, a book half hanging from his fingers.

"Look, look! The Fenton Portal is alive!" Toby Fenton stood up, putting his hands on his hips.

"Saint's preserve us! Toby, it's, it's…" Kathleen Fenton gasped, wiping her hands on her apron.

"Incredible! Pop, you're a genius!" Daniel Fenton grinned as he approached the glowing frame.

"Daniel, be careful, we don't know what lies beyond." his mother cautioned, reaching out a hand to him.

A sudden blue flash came from the portal as Danny and company stepped forward, or more accurately fell forward into a pig pile of teenagers.

The Portal went dead at that point.

"What the…." Toby looked down at his feet in shock as Danny looked up and smiled.

"Uh, hi! I'm Danny Fenton, you must be my Great Great Grandfather Tobias Fenton?"

"I am Tobias Fenton, but grandfather I'm not." the large man smiled back, helping the kids to their feet.

"Well, we're from the future, 2004 to be exact. We've come back in time to meet you, actually I wanted to get some information on a paper I need to write for school and…"

"Danny?" Jazz asked, tapping her absent minded brother on the shoulder.

"Oh yeah, this is my sister Jasmine, we call her Jazz and these are my friends Tucker Foley and Sam Manson."

"Wow! If you are who you say you are, then you would be my Great Grandson? Were you named after me?" Daniel asked moving up to Danny.

"Yeah, I guess. My dad, Jack Fenton said that his grandmother requested that his son be named after her husband Daniel, that would be you?"

Daniel reached out an poked Danny gently in the chest to see if he was real.

"Sparkies! This is incredible! I'm standing face to face with my own Great Grandson!"

Kat Fenton grabbed her son and pulled him away from Danny.

"If ye be any mischief making banshees, I'll whop you…" Kat warned, holding a firm fist up to Danny's chin.

"Ma, they're not ghosts! He's as real as we are!" Daniel protested, pulling his mother's raised arm away from Danny.

"Thanks for the save!" Danny sighed with relief. "Would be rather hard to explain how I got a black eye from my Great Great Grandmother!"

"Back down, old girl!" Toby Fenton smiled, putting a big arm around his wife's shoulder. "They came through the portal true enough, but maybe it works as a time portal as well as a ghost portal? Maybe I'm a bigger genius than I figured!"

"Ha! I married a genius? I'm sure the neighbors will be surprised to hear that!" Kat joked with a pretty smile.

Toby smiled as he walked around the four teenagers, a thoughtful look on his face.

"You say you've come from the year 2004? Things must have progressed to make time travel possible."

"Not exactly," Jazz began, trying to find the right words to explain their presence there. "See, we had some help getting here, kinda like a travel agent."

"I wonder how the Master of Time would like being called a mere travel agent?" Danny snickered under his breath.

"Well, how and why you got to be here can all be sorted out later. The main concern is that you are here and you are family. I can see the family resemblance in you, Daniel is it?" Toby asked, putting a large hand on Danny's shoulder.

"Yeah, just call me Danny."

"And I'm called Daniel, so that should make things much easier." Daniel chirped in.

"You folks seem awful accepting of us, what gives with that?" Sam asked with great speculation in her voice.

"Well, you did come though the Portal, how else could you have gotten in here? As you can see there are no windows and the only doorway is the one leading upstairs!" Toby smiled broadly. The large man's warmth radiated throughout the room and was infectious.

Tucker whipped off his backpack and moved over to one of the workbenches and spilled the contents out for everyone to see. Toby eyes lit up like a star filled night.

"What have we here? Amazing! What is this?" he asked, carefully handling Tucker's PDA.

"Personal computer, hand held model. Let's see, there's the cell phone, digital camera, CD player…." Tucker mused over his precious "toys" making Danny snicker.

"I think Tucker and Grandpa Toby have just hit it off."

"Kat, look at these marvels! There is no way these children can be from our time, carrying these incredible machines!"

"Here Daniel, try this!" Sam smiled, taking the boy by the hand. She grabbed Tucker's CD player and carefully placed the headphones on his ears and turned the player on.

Daniel shook from the assault on his ears, but listened with fascination. After a minute he removed the headphones and asked shyly.

"What does it mean to have your parents reek?"

"Oh, this is gonna be fun!" Sam laughed, but Daniel blushed. Sam took his hand again and smiled.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be cruel. Don't be mad, Daniel."

Daniel looked at her, handing the headset back with a small smile.

"Sparkies, how could I be mad at a pretty girl like you, even if you are showing a bit more of yourself than you should." His eyes glanced up and down Sam in her short skirt and top.

Kat intervened, putting a protective hand over her son's eyes.

"Aye, and it's strange clothing you be wearing, strange indeed!" Kat said with a frown as she looked a Sam and Jazz. "We'll have to get you something more appropriate, but for now supper's on the table and we always have plenty, so let's all go upstairs and we can talk over a hot meal."

"Oh we have plenty of clothes here with us!" Jazz sparkled, holding up the bag.

"In that little thing? Aye, you'd have to be a magician to put enough clothes in there for four people!" Kat said, cocking her head.

Toby put an arm around his wife and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Seems to be a night for magic and more, well, Mother is always right! Come along you lot and let's eat, you all look half starved." he said leading everyone up the stairs.

"So, your family is still living in this house, are they? That's a good thing to know. A good sturdy house is worth keeping." Toby smiled, pushing his chair back from the dining table that was in what would Danny would know as the living room, but these Fentons used it as a dining room.

Sam and Jazz got up and helped Kat clear the dishes from the table.

"Such nice girls! Don't have to ask them! Your mothers have raised you well, indeed!" she praised as she led the girls to the kitchen and Toby led the boys into the sitting room which in Danny's time would be Jack's study. Toby plopped down into an old beat up chair and unhooked the small top button of his collarless shirt.

"Don't wear those blasted celluloid collars at home. No need to. We live very relaxed here, no dressing for dinner." Toby explained, putting his hands behind his back and stretching his legs.

"Gee if I know we could have taken our clothes off…" Tucker joked only to have Danny remove Tucker's beret and smack him with it.

"He means putting on a suit and tie, you nub!" Danny snorted, but smiled as he tossed the hat back to his best friend.

"Wow, I wish I had a friend I could chum around with like you do, Danny." Daniel sighed as he sat down a the piano in the corner of the room and began to play softly. Danny looked at Toby with a questioning look.

"Ah, Daniel here is terribly shy. He's just a freshman at the new Casper High School. The school just opened this year, brand new building!" Toby explained, looking over to his son as he played a waltz.

"We all go to Casper High, it's still there, a lot more update than it probably is now." Tucker explained. He moved across the room and sat down on the piano bench next to Daniel. Daniel was heavier set than Danny, not fat, just a more average boy of his time. His hair was a dark rust color, cut short in the fashion of the day. His dark green eyes studied the music in front of him as he continued to play.

"So what became of us? I mean, what are we going to be in later years?" Daniel asked, stopping his playing and turning to Danny who sat down on the couch.

Danny squirmed uncomfortably.

"I really don't think that's anything I should talk about. You have to find your own path, at least that's what Clockwork told me…oops!"

"Ghost's outta the bag." Tucker sighed leaning his elbow on the piano keys which let out a terrible discord. Daniel laughed and gave Tucker a playful shove off the bench.

"Clockwork? Who would that be? Sounds like something you fix, not talk to." Kat's voice filled the room as she entered with Sam and Jazz with a homemade chocolate cake. She set it down on a table and served as Danny spoke.

"Well, he did tell me to be honest and…"

"Danny…" Sam said in a warning voice.

"Sam, he said I should always be honest while I'm here and well, he's kinda…." Danny was cut off by the shrill sound of the mechanical doorbell.

"I'll get it." Daniel offered, sliding off the piano bench and going leaving the room.

"This Clockwork, is a person?" Toby pushed.

"Well, not in the strictest sense of the word, he's actually a…"

"Uriah! A pleasant surprise! Come in, come in!" Toby jumped from his chair and gave his older brother a bear hug. Uriah held back the utter contempt he felt for such public displays and gave his brother a pat on the shoulder.

"I have been rather negligent in my duties, so I found myself with a free evening and wanted to come and visit. I see you already have company." Uriah smiled as he looked at the four strangers, but found his eyes set firmly on Danny.

"You will not believe this brother, but these children are from the future! The Fenton Portal works! Well it's suppose to show us ghosts, but somehow these wonderful children came instead. There's Samantha Manson, Tucker Foley, and Jasmine Fenton and her brother Danny, they are my Great Great Grandchildren!"

Uriah painted a skeptical look on his face as he sat down on the couch next to Danny.

"Really Toby, you must have bumped your head on something down in that basement of yours."

"It's true Uncle Uriah. Show him the watch Danny." Daniel said as he sat down on the piano bench.

"Yes, you did mention something about a time piece." Toby urged. Reluctantly, Danny pulled the gold watch out of his pants pocket.

"Hummm, rather fine piece for a child to have." Uriah noted, taking the watch into his hands to Danny's surprise. "What is this CW emblem?"

"Must be that Clockwork fellow he was telling us about." Toby said.

"Now there will be no weeding out secrets this night. These children are probably very weary from their journey. Lets let it be until tomorrow." Kat said firmly.

Danny smiled his thanks to Kat as he snatched the watch away from Uriah and stuffed it back into his pants pocket.

"Very well, I suppose we can all wait to find out the end of this story," Uriah said, doing his best to hide his contempt for his overbearing Irish sister-in-law. "May I at least ask the reason for your journey to this time?"

"Well, I have to do a report on family history and lets just say my friend Clockwork made the arrangements for us to come here." Danny said simply enough. Uriah smiled at getting that much. Knowing what he knew about Danny he figured that Clockwork must be a powerful ghost of some kind to allow him access to time travel. He wanted badly to reach out and touch Danny to gauge for himself his powers, but to do that would let Danny sense the evil about him which he could not allow.

"How about you children come to my factory tomorrow? I know quite a bit about family history and you can tour the plant, see how business is done these days." Uriah offered with a sweet smile.

"I think that would be a great idea! Danny can get a start on his paper and the insights to early 20th century workplace organization will make a great paper for my history class!" Jazz piped in happily.

"Leave it to Jazz to find a way to kill two birds with one stone!" Sam sighed and Tucker nodded.

"Splendid! Daniel will go with you since it's Saturday and it give you all something to do! This will be an interesting time for all, I can assure you." Uriah smiled, with an inner darkness.

Chapter VI

Midmorning came and found the four travelers stepping out of the Ford that was a bit worse for wear.

"Sorry the ride was so rough, children. The ol' gal doesn't run a smooth as she use to." Toby apologized as he helped Sam and Jazz out of the back seat of the car.

"Man, now I know why my Grandpa Foley always complained about his grandfather's car! My butt is killing me!"

Danny let out a small laugh.

"Well, I'll trade my back for your butt anytime! Grandpa Toby, if you do so well financially with your inventions why do you drive this bucket of bolts? Why not get a new car?"

Toby looked at Danny in shock.

"I love this car! It's the first car I ever owned!"

"When did you buy it? 1776?" Tucker grumbled, pulling at the high collar on his shirt. Clockwork was true to his word and had put enough clothes in the small bag to last each of them nearly a week! Sam and Jazz were dressed in the latest fashion for young ladies which consisted of a long straight skirt, sometime known as a hobble skirt, soft cotton blouses and matching jackets to go with their skirts. Jazz was in a soft spring green and Sam wore an equally soft lavender which matched her eyes. They both sported wide brimmed hats with ribbons about the crown and flowers sewn to the ribbon.

"I can't believe it took us so long to get dressed! These shoes! Button hooks!" Sam bemoaned trying to keep the brim of her had from falling over her eyes as she poked about in the silk beaded purse she carried.

"Girls always take long to get dressed than boys, well at least that's what Ma tells me." Daniel blushed slightly looking in Sam's direction as a lace handkerchief fell from her purse. He quickly swooped down and caught it before it hit the ground. He held it out to her with a shy smile.

"Uh, thanks Daniel." she said uneasily. Danny and Tucker just started to whistle off key.

"I think Danny and Tucker took just as long to get dressed as we did." Jazz came back.

"Hey, three piece suits aren't exactly what we wear to school!" Tucker moaned, shifting uncomfortably in the light brown linen suit. He had a golf cap to match, which he put up quite a struggle against wearing, wanting his old red beret.

Danny smile, remembering the argument he had put up over the hat change with Sam, only to eventually loose.

Danny was in a similar suit, but in blue that showed off his large blue eyes. He wore a cap similar to Tuckers as did Daniel.

"Well, I've got some business to attend to downtown, so call the house when you're ready to come home and I'll be here to pick you up." Toby said with a cheery wave as he jumped back into the car and pulled away with a huge puff of smoke.

"Sorry about that, Pop loves his old hunk of junk. Cars must have improved greatly in 2004." Daniel said, directing his remark to Sam.

"Slightly. They're much more comfortable for one thing. I vote we walk home." Sam groaned as they kids headed for the front door of the plant. A sign was on the door noting the floor was being worked on and for visitors to please use the side entrance. The group obeyed and headed down a shadowed alley, unaware of a figure high above watching from a window.

They were halfway down the alley when four darkly dressed men with masks jumped out from behind crates and attacked.

"Grab the redhead and let's go!" the leader of the attackers yelled.

They focused their attention on Jazz as two of them grabbed her and dragged her down the alley.

"Let go of me…Danny!" she cried out, struggling against the two men.

Danny looked around frantically for a place to hide long enough to change into Danny Phantom. One of the attackers lunged for him and he kicked him sharply in the shin. Looking up, he saw the two others getting further away with Jazz.

Sam and Tucker each tackled the remaining two, but with little effect. Tucker ended up slammed into several metal trash cans that toppled around him and Sam got spun around and slipped into a large cart of rags. The two assailants turned their attention to Danny, slowly moving in on him.

"No choice, I'm Going Ghost!"

The alley lit up with the unnatural light of Danny's transformation long enough to stun the two assailants that had taken out Sam and Tucker with an Ecto Beam from the palm of his hand. Daniel was helping Sam up from the cart when Tucker staggered over and picked up a loose board from the side of the cart. Tucker, Sam and Daniel grabbed loose boards and rocks from the ground and began to pelt the pair of hoods while Danny zoomed down the alley and blasted the two holding his sister with his Ecto-Energy balls. The four would be kidnappers took off running to the end of the alley and down the corner. Danny didn't follow, but stayed to help Jazz to her feet as she had tripped and fallen.

"You ok Jazz? They didn't hurt you, did they?" Danny's voice was soft, but full of concern as his sister got to her feet.

"I'm fine Danny." she smile, straightening out her straw hat and brushing the dust from her green dress. Tucker and Sam quickly joined them.

"Shouldn't you go after them?" Sam asked.

"No, I got a feeling we were set up." Danny said looking around only to lock eyes with Daniel who stood several feet away. He looked paralyzed with fear.

"Oh man, I forgot…Daniel I can explain…" Danny said leaving his sister's side to go to his Great Grandfather.

"Sparkies, What are you? How did you do that?" Daniel gasped.

"I'm half ghost. There was an accident in my parents' lab and I went into our Fenton Portal and it switched on. The Ecto radiation changed my DNA, oh that's right you don't know what DNA is, just say it changed me and made me half ghost." Danny reached out slowly and took Daniel by the hand, letting his ghost hand pass through Daniel's mortal one.

"It's ok, Daniel. Danny uses his powers to help people. Not all ghosts are evil." Jazz said with a smile joining Danny at his side.

"Except every other ghost we encounter." Tucker said under his breath.

"I can't wait to tell Ma and Pop!" Daniel said with excitement which made Danny frown as he changed back to Danny Fenton.

"I can't stop you, but I wish you wouldn't. The less people that know about me the safer I am."

Daniel shuffled his foot, looking down to the ground.

"I've never kept a secret from my parents. We've always been very honest with each other. You mean to tell me that your own parents don't know?"

"When your parents are the world's leading authorities on ghosts and ghost hunting, having a half ghost for a son would be like having a lab rat. I would be poked and prodded and tested to death. For me, it's best they don't know for now. I'll probably tell them someday." Danny smiled. "I think it's great how you are with your folks. I guess we could trust them. Clockwork told me to be honest and…"

"What is going on out here? I heard there was a commotion, are you children alright?" Uriah came bursting out the side door and rushed to the kids.

"Seemed some hoodlums tried to kidnap Jasmine, Uncle Uriah." Daniel said.

"This is not the best neighborhood, I'm afraid. Why didn't my brother escort you in?"

"Pop had business to attend to."

"But still Daniel, he shouldn't leave you alone, especially with two such lovely young ladies! I must have a talk with him about that. Sometimes my brother tends to forget the social formalities. Come inside and we'll get you all cleaned up and have some tea." Uriah guided the children in, keeping a close eye on Danny.

"What I want to know is why out of the clear blue four guys show up and try to kidnap my sister?" Danny said with an edge to his voice. He was looking out the window of Uriah's office with a view of practically the whole of Amity Park. A drab middle aged woman offered him a cup of tea which he shook his head to.

"These are difficult times we live in, what with the Great War still raging in Europe and the Influenza that is spreading across the country, who knows why people do what they do? I am sorry to get your visit off to such a rocky start. Jasmine is lucky to have such a brave brother and loyal friends." Uriah flashed a smile as the woman left the room. He noticed Tucker's interest in his dictation machine.

"This is the latest in recording technology, Tucker." he said proudly, holding the horn like mouthpiece out to the boy.

"Man, this is scary! I'd die if I had to live like this! No CD players, no computers…." Tucker gently put the mouthpiece down as if it were something disgusting. Uriah seemed genuinely amused at Tucker's reaction.

"We do have electricity. There are several places in the country that still do not." Uriah offered.

"Barely!" Tucker whined. Danny laughed.

"C'mon Tuck, it's not that bad! At least they have running water!"

"And you call yourself my best friend! Ha!" Tucker fired back with equal humor.

"You two are best friends?" Uriah asked with interest as he sat in the leather chair behind his desk.

"We have been since, since forever it seems. Sam too, of course." Danny quickly added only to get a glare from the pink clad Goth.

"Thanks for remembering me." she smiled, raising her teacup in salute from across the room. Daniel was seated next to her and smiled at her.

"I could never forget anyone like you, Sam."

A faint blush rose to her cheeks as she looked quickly to Jazz for help.

"No one who meets Sam forgets her, she's very unique." Jazz quickly said for the save. Sam gave her a grateful look as she finished her tea.

"Well, I did promise you young people a tour of my factory, that is if you've recovered from your ordeal?" Uriah asked hopefully.

"Sure, I guess we are." Danny spoke for the group who nodded their approval.

"Splendid! Right this way then!" Uriah crossed the room and opened the door to his office as the teens filed out. Tucker was last and Uriah wrapped and unusually warm arm around his shoulder.

"We should compare notes Tucker, on technology. It fascinates me so. Perhaps you could come by my home this evening, say seven?"

Tucker was caught off guard. From what Daniel had told them last night, his uncle was not the most cordial of men.

"I guess that depends on what Danny and the others have in mind." Tucker said, walking along in back of the others.

"Let's just keep this to ourselves, shall we? You seem to have a far superior intellect and appreciation for things beyond your years."

Tucker felt a flush to his face. He wasn't use to such compliments from older people outside his family.

"I guess I could, thanks Mr. Fenton, man that's weird. I usually call Danny's dad Mr. Fenton, not his Great Great Grand Uncle." Tucker said with a shake of his head.

Uriah smiled, patting the boy on the shoulder as they caught up with the others.

"Well, I for one thought the place was deplorable! Using child labor like that, and paying so little! It's criminal!" Sam ranted over supper that night.

"I have to agree with Sam. Why do people let this happen?" Jazz added her concern.

"Times are tough. Most of these people are immigrants who speak little English and have few skills, others have to work to help support their families." Daniel tried to explain as best he could.

"But they're children, Daniel! They should be in school!" Sam shook her fork at him from across the table.

"Sam, Sam calm down!" Danny grabbed her wrist and pushed her hand back down to the table.

"Aye, she had good reason to be upset and upset we all should be about this subject!" Kat nodded from her place at the foot of the table. "I know he's your brother and all, Toby but the man exploits children for profit!"

Toby's normally smiling face was frowning at this point.

"I will not allow anyone to speak badly of my brother, especially when he's not here to defend himself. You don't know him the way I do."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Fenton, I didn't mean to bring your brother into this, it's just the whole idea of labor in this country and in Amity Park. I never dreamed anything like sweat shops existed here!" Sam exclaimed.

"Sam, we can't go changing things. There are some things we have

no power over." Danny sadly admitted.

Sam shot him a hot angry look. She took the linen napkin from her lap and threw it on the table.

"Fine! Danny Fenton, I thought you were the one that always wanted to change the world for the better!"

"This is not our world to change….Sam!" Danny cried out as she stalked out of the room.

"Oh, the poor lass, I'll just…" Kat sighed only to have Daniel jump up and wave his mother back in her chair.

"Ma, I'll go see if she's alright." Daniel hurried after Sam.

"Begorah, I've never seen the lad show such an interest in a girl before!" Kat said with wide eyed wonder.

"Dude, you'd better turn the burner down, you're simmering!" Tucker noted with alarm taking in Danny's sudden dark countenance.

"Huh? Who me? I'm not jealous of my Great Grandfather making a move on one of my best friends who happens to be a girl!" Danny spoke out suddenly and very quickly before he realized what he said. He felt his face flush red as Toby snickered.

"Could be rather awkward Danny, your Great Grandfather falling in love with your girlfriend. Awkward? It's downright hilarious!"

With that said, Toby let go the laughter he was holding back which was contagious and in a matter of moments he had everyone, including Danny laughing.

"Would be pretty funny Danny, Sam being your Great Grandmother?" Jazz snickered.

"Uh, Jazz…newsflash! She'd be your Great Grandmother too." Danny smiled back to his sister who's smile disappeared quickly.

"Sam, please wait!" Daniel called out as he opened the front door to find Sam hurrying down the street.

She stopped suddenly and turned, wiping the tears from her face. Daniel held out a hand as he sat down on the stoop. Slowly she made her way back and sat down next to him. He reached in his pants pocket and offered her a handkerchief.

"Thanks." she sniffed as she dabbed her eyes.

"It's a nice night. I like this time of year, the weather is just right." Daniel said awkwardly, running a hand through his brownish red hair.

"Yeah, it's nice out, lots of stars." she said with equal awkwardness, crumpling the handkerchief in her hands.

"I, uh don't know many…uh girls I mean." Daniel stammered.

"I don't know why, you're nice Daniel. You make us all feel so welcome." Sam smiled, her face shimming in the moonlight. They sat looking at each other until Daniel got the nerve to say,

"Sparkies, you're pretty Sam. Danny's got to be crazy not to have you as his girlfriend."

Sam suddenly turned away from him, trying to hide the rosy blush she felt on her face and to control the overwhelming urge to squeal over a boy like Star or Paulina. She never wanted to be like them, but she couldn't fight the fact she felt attracted to this boy.

"I wouldn't say Danny's crazy, in fact he's a lot like you, Daniel." Sam said turning to face him again.

Daniel took a deep breath and held Sam's hands in his. Despite her best efforts, she felt a shiver run through her.

"Maybe it runs in the family…" Daniel said softly as he tilted his head and was about to kiss Sam when Tucker came bolting out the front door and a large black sedan pulled up in front of the curb.

"That's my ride! Sweet, huh? I'm off to Uncle Uriah's for some techno-chat and boy do I need it. Danny's busy working on his school paper and Jazz is lending a hand, see ya!"

Tucker hopped into the car and it pulled away into the night.

"Seems like everyone's busy." Sam said getting up from the stoop.

"Sam, could I, uh, could I…" Daniel stammered, feeling his moment of bravery slip away.

"Daniel what is it?"

"Would you like to go to the movies? There's a new Charlie Chaplin playing at the Roxy, if we go now we can just make it."

"Charlie Chaplin? A silent movie! Oh I gotta try this at least once! Grandma Manson use to tell me about these!" Sam giggled as they headed into the house.

"Hard to believe this is where the old Thorndike place is now. I wonder what happened to this house?" Tucker said with wonder as Uriah motioned for him to sit across from him in the study.

"I was wondering if you could tell me? I guess history is not one of your better subjects?" Uriah smiled as the butler came in carrying a silver tray with a full tea service on it. He instructed the butler to leave the tray and he leaned forward in his chair and poured a dark brew into a fine bone china cup and handed it to Tucker.

"It's a fine Chinese tea that I have made just for me. One of the advantages of high output and low labor costs these days."

"Yeah, we had a bit of an argument over that at supper tonight," Tucker said uneasily, balancing the cup and saucer in hand. "It seems unfair to exploit people and especially children."

Uriah cocked an eyebrow at Tucker's honesty.

"You mean to tell me that wages are that much better and children

don't work?"

"Something like that. We have labor laws that forbid children to work, though kids my age can work with a permit, but only at certain jobs. Some of those machines in your factory look dangerous to work on."

"It's business, Tucker. That's all. See, without my factory those people wouldn't have jobs and would be a burden on society and without them, well I wouldn't have all this, and more!" Uriah swept a dramatic arm around him, showing off the magnificent art and book collection in the room.

"I'm sorry Danny couldn't come," Tucker said with a sigh, changing the subject. "He's working on his paper so we can head home."

"Oh? I take it then you won't be staying long?" Uriah's interest was peaked as he sipped the tea.

"No, Danny actually wants to head home tomorrow. He doesn't want us to be a burden on Toby and Kat."

"Nonsense! Toby and Kat love children! Daniel is the great joy of their lives! Such a pity they couldn't have more children, but Kat was ill shortly after Daniel was born and the doctors said she could not have any more children. They had planned on a large family. My brother doesn't make a lot of money with his inventions, just enough to scrape by so I send work his way, fixing things or coming up with a better way for the machines to work. In his own strange way Toby is quiet brilliant. Tucker, you haven't touched your tea."

"Oh, sorry I'm not much of a tea drinker." Tucker said, then remembered something his mother always told him about not offending people when offered food. He smiled as took a sip. Uriah's dark eyes glimmered.

"Gee, this is really good!" Tucker said with surprise as he finished the cup. Uriah automatically poured another for him, then leaned back in his chair, a tight smile crossing his face.

"What kind of books do you collect, Mr. Fenton?" Tucker asked more to be polite than genuine interest.

"Oh, this and that. I have many varied interest, I do especially like books on the Unseen World, spirits and such."

"That must be where Danny's dad gets his interest in ghost from. He's got tons of books about ghosts. He's a paranormal investigator, a ghost hunter, both him and Danny's mom. They've even written several papers on the subject. They invent some really neat ghost catching devices too." Tucker said then took a sip of the tea.

"I have one book of particular interest to me and it might be to you too, Tucker." Uriah said as he got up and went to the desk across the room. He took a small key from his vest pocket and opened the center drawer and pulled out a book covered with black velvet. He brought it over to Tucker and sat down in front of him.

"Don't see books in bags like that." Tucker said, raising his eyebrows.

"Ah! But this is no ordinary book! This is the book of great power and wisdom." Uriah said in an almost reverent tone as he removed the wrappings from the book.

Tucker's eyes widened with amazement as he gazed on a leather bound book about the size of one of his school books. The cover hand a thick gold plate with what looked like gemstones scattered about the raised and engraved metal. A solid gold latch held the book shut and was sealed with a silvery sealing wax. A symbol of a circle with scroll work around it and the letters "GM" were stamped into the wax.

Tucker felt himself drawn to the book.

"You too can feel the power contained in this volume can't you? The calling is strong. I felt it myself when I first found it, years ago. Only those of The Calling can open it." Uriah spoke earnestly holding the book out. Tucker carefully took it into his hands and a strange vibration swept over him, making him feel one with the book.

"I had a feeling when I saw you last night at my brothers and then today at the factory. You are a Ghostmaster."

"A what?" Tucker was temporarily pulled away from the book. He watched Uriah rise from his chair and stand over him.

"We of the Ghostmasters. We are a rare breed indeed! It is our business to keep the spirits in check. We can command them, make them do our bidding. It is my calling and your destiny, child."

Tucker shook his head and put the book down on the table.

"Wait a minute, you're telling me that I am some kinda ghost commander? This book can tell me how to control ghosts? But how?"

"Someone in your family history was one and the gift has traveled down through the ages," Uriah offered, putting a long thin hand under Tucker's chin and pulling his face up to look at him. "Hummmm, probably African continent, then again could be Egypt too. We will have to research that together. I can guide you, Tucker. Once you break the seal of the Book of Ghosts, your life will forever change. You will whiled great power."

"I don't know…this sounds kinda scary. It's a lot to think about." Tucker said rising from his chair and turning to leave. He was only able to take a couple of steps before he put a hand to his head and grabbed the arm of the chair he'd been sitting in.

"Are you alright, dear boy?" Uriah smiled, watching his finely spun spell take effect.

"I, I'm sorry, I don't know…feel kinda….fuzzy…." Tucker stammered, falling back into the chair.

"Yes, my spells have a way of doing that to people." Uriah rose from his chair and walked to the back of the one Tucker was in.

"Spell? What spell? What's…happening…to…me?" Tucker felt a surge of fear well up in him as Uriah put his long thin hands on his shoulders.

"Just your average everyday witchcraft. I'm sure running with Danny Fenton that you've encountered quite a bit of magic, or is it Danny Phantom?"

Tucker tipped his spinning head back to look up at Uriah's dark smile.

"How?"

"I have access to my own technology, Tucker. Magic, especially Dark Magic has it's own technological advances. Mirrors, for example can hold spirits and they can be made to serve. There's much to be said for my world, or should I say our world?"

An alarm went off in Tucker's head and he managed to pull away from Uriah and stand to face him.

"No, you're not gonna use me, to get to…Danny!"

"My dear boy! You have me all wrong! I'm not going to hurt you. The fact of the matter is I'm going to bring you into my fold! You are of the Ghostmaster bloodline. I need you to bring the Ghostmasters back to life. That book is full of wonders for the mind! You will open the book for me, for only one of the true bloodline can break the seal and open the book. I will be the Grand Master and you will become my apprentice and learn from me until you can wield the powers and be one of my elite circle of advisors when I take over the world. I shall own you and control you. You will do as I command."

"No! Danny will…stop you." Tucker backed away a few steps only to trip on the corner of a Persian rug and fall on his back. Uriah Fenton looked like a giant looming over him.

"Danny Fenton is the key to my ascension to power and you will be the one who delivers him to me." Uriah smiled as he struck out his hand towards Tucker. A hot bolt of blue power came from his fingertips and sizzled over Tucker's entire being, causing him to scream.

"I need Danny's ghost half to complete my power. I am a master magician but with Danny's ghostly powers I can be a living god!" Uriah bent down and grabbed the half conscious Tucker by the front of his jacket, pulling him close to his face.

"It is better by far to serve a living god than a half ghost boy. You are Danny's servant, not his friend. He uses you to his own ends."

"No….Danny's my friend…if he can't stop you…I will." Tucker

gasped as the spell in the tea worked through his blood, weakening his resolve to fight.

"Friendship is weak. True strength comes from the bond of Master and Servant. You are my servant now, not Danny's. Do my bidding and you will sit on at my left side, a side of honor in the dark world. In time, you too will become a Ghostmaster and rule with me. You want power, you taste it every time Danny becomes a ghost. It is bittersweet and you want it for yourself. Bring Danny to me and I will share his power with you. Do not think that being a Ghostmaster you will be able to harm me once I obtain Danny's powers, for even now you are loosing your will to resist me."

Tucker shook his head.

"Have to, warn him…."

Uriah grabbed Tucker and hauled him to his feet, pulling him along as he walked across the room as a panel of wall slid opened and he entered a small room draped with black and red velvet curtains. In the center of the room stood an ornate full length mirror similar to the one in his magic study.

"This is the boy, the one you said was needed to complete my rise to power." Uriah's voice was dark as a gray swirling mist formed in the glass.

"Yes, this is the one. The ghost boy must be touched by the hand of betrayal for the spell to be even more binding."

A gray misty arm reached out from the mirror and lightly touched Tucker's face. He recoiled with a stifled groan.

"You're crazy! I'm not gonna…help you." Tucker was trying his best to fight off the oppressive evil in the room, but the tea he had drank had a weakening effect on his resolve.

"There is evil in everyone, child. It's just a matter of prying it loose and letting it flourish and grow. I can tell you've been touched by it before, pity it wasn't allowed to take root." Uriah said in a superior manner. He grabbed Tucker's wrists and forced his hands onto the mirror The boy shook as the spirit of the mirror was able to infuse it's darkness through the glass and into the flesh.

Tucker's mind spun out of control. All the good things he knew were being thrown into a dark room and locked away. What was left was a void that was quickly filled with a need for power and a desire to serve it.

Uriah let go of Tucker and he fell to the floor, trembling.

"Who do you serve, child?" Uriah asked deeply.

"No one but Lord Uriah. I am his to command." Tucker replied in a far away voice, keeping his head bowed to the man who had brought about this change in him.

"Obey me and you will be rewarded beyond your wishes. Betray me, and you will be punished beyond your fears. You must bring Danny Fenton to me."

"He won't come…"

"You are a persuasive fellow, you will find a way. Tomorrow evening you will bring him to me, unaware of the fate to befall him." Uriah said darkly.

Chapter VII

Clockwork studied the portal and the scene playing out before him.

"You are playing with fire, Clockwork!" The first Observant accused, pointing a bony long finger at the screen which was frozen at the moment Tucker had become consumed by the evil of Uriah's spell.

"You are allowing Danny Fenton to fall purposely into a trap he may well not escape from." the second warned.

The elderly Clockwork turned slowly and looked at the pair.

"I know what I'm doing. Have no fear, Danny will not face this peril alone. I'm about to, up the anti as they say. In fact he should be arriving right about now."

The portal went hazy and blue as a figure shot through and hit the floor hard.

Vlad Masters pulled himself up to a sitting position and shook his head.

"What in blazes was that? All I did was open the door to the Plasmius Portal…" he stopped speaking when he noticed the three figures floating in front of him. He slowly got to his feet and looked around in amazement.

"Must be the Ghost Zone, but where? Why am I here?"

"Clockwork! You must be mad! Bringing the boy's arch enemy here!" the second Observant ranted.

Clockwork ignored the accusation and turned to face Masters as he once again transformed into the child version of himself.

"Vlad Masters, also known as Vlad Plasmius. I am Clockwork, Master of Time. I have brought you here for a mission."

"Oh, really? Well that's all fine and dandy for you, but I have a meeting in a half hour and…" Vlad said turning to leave, only to find the portal he'd come through was now black.

"Turn that thing back on this instant! I don't have time to play games with second rate ghosts!" Vlad warned, changing into Plasmius.

"My but he's gone and done it now." the first Observant said to his colleague.

Clockwork narrowed his eyes and moved closer to Vlad, pointing his staff in his chest.

"You have no choice in the matter if you want to save Danny Fenton."

Vlad's face lit up like a Christmas Tree.

"Daniel? Why didn't you say so in the first place? I'd only be too delighted to let the child rot wherever he may be!" Vlad growled.

Clockwork sighed as he changed to his adult form.

"Why does it always have to be done the hard way? I suppose now you are going to want to fight me?"

"That's a splendid idea!" Vlad grinned wickedly as he shot a blast of energy from his hand only to have Clockwork deflect it with his staff. Vlad sprung into the air and made a dive towards Clockwork with his hands outstretched.

"Time Out!" the Master of Time called, hitting the stem of his staff.

Vlad found himself slowing down until he could no longer move in mid flight. Clockwork grabbed his staff with both hands and swung it towards a large clock gear across the room. The motion pulled Plasmius along, slamming him into the gear.

"Time In!"

Vlad slumped to the floor in a heap. Slowly he got to his feet and prepared another Ecto-Blast only to stop when he saw the staff pointed at him again.

"We really don't have time for this. There is much to be done if you and the other are to save Danny."

Vlad powered down and held out his hands in a gesture of polite restraint.

"Why do I of all people have to save the little urchin, and who is the other, and who are these one eyed wonders?" Vlad asked with sarcasm,

pointing to the Observants.

"We did not come here to be insulted!" the first Observant said haughtily.

"Then wherever you go, you should be there!" Vlad sneered, unimpressed by the one eyed ghosts.

"Enough of this!" Clockwork commanded, changing to his form to the elderly Clockwork as he turned to face Vlad. "These are the Observants, they watch over your mortal word and watch the fabric of Time being woven. Their job is vital, if not questionable. You call what happened to you in college and accident. We, on the other hand," Clockwork motioned to the Observants, "call it Fate. You were meant to become a hybrid and to use your powers for Good, but as we have seen that is not the case. Using your powers for personal gain and selfishness, so unlike Danny Fenton who tries to help those around him."

"The boy is a bumbling idiot!" Vlad charged, pointing to the Time Portal that now showed a still picture of Danny Phantom. "He causes more problems than solves!"

"He has a point, Clockwork. The boy has made some terrible mistakes." the second Observant pointed out calmly.

Vlad walked up to the front of the portal and studied the picture of Danny.

"I have offered several times to take him under my wing and train him, but he refuses."

"You want to turn the boy to Evil!" the first Observant accused, keeping a safe distance from Plasmius. Vlad turned to the Observants and sneered at the pair.

"So? What is it to you if I do? I suppose you poster boys for the Seeing Eye would rather moddycoddle the child? No, he needs training and discipline. He needs to learn the world is his for the taking, not for saving kittens from trees and helping old ladies across the street. Leave the mundane to the mundane, Daniel is raw power that needs to be harnessed with a strong guiding hand. You would probably like to see him with his own pair of Fairy Godparents to help him along!"

"We are not here to discuss Danny's training or lack thereof," Clockwork sighed, bringing the conversation back under his control.

"Besides, Fairy Godparents are terribly overrated. Plasmius, have you ever considered what your life would be like if you hadn't had the accident with Jack Fenton's proto-portal?"

"I would have married Maddie, that would be a fact." Vlad said shortly, turning his back on the portal and the other ghosts.

"Would you like to see what would have happened to you?" Clockwork teased in a soft voice that brought Vlad around to face the screen as it changed and showed him, as he was now but in a different time line….

"Vlad! Hurry up with that urine sample, Dr. Hastings needs it in an hour!" a gruff voice called to the man sitting at the lab table.

Vlad Masters was not the billionaire investment magnet, but a middle class lab lackey at a hospital in Madison Wisconsin.

"What kind of trick is this?" Vlad roared as the scene froze on the portal.

"No trick, just an alternate version of your life if you had not been changed into a ghost, now watch." Clockwork instructed, pointing to the screen which changed to show Vlad getting out of a cab in front of Fenton Works.

"Vladdie my man! So good to see you!" Jack's boisterous voice boomed as he hopped down the front stairs and threw his arms around his best friend.

"Jack! It's nice of you to invite me for the holidays!" Vlad smiled, pushing a lock of dark gray hair from his eyes as he and Jack got his things out of the cab. They went inside where they were greeted by Maddie.

"Maddie! Jack's the lucky one! How this big lug ever got the greatest gal in the world, I'll never know!" Vlad sighed, but there was not a hint of jealousy in this voice. Only love of his dearest friends.

"Uncle Vlad!" came a cry and a thunderous boom of Jazz and Danny running down the stairs and nearly crushing Vlad in a bear hug!

"Jazz! Danny! I wish I could have had two such wonderful children!"

"Turn that infernal thing off before I barf!" Vlad growled, turning away from the heart warming scene.

Clockwork turned the portal blank and smiled.

"You may not have been rich in material things, but you were rich in the love of your friends."

"Ugh! You sound like a greeting card! Give me power and money any day." Vlad said with a nasty tone.

The old ghost sighed as he transformed to his child self.

"I'm not here to change your life, but to keep it on track."

"Will you get to the point!" Vlad demanded hotly, folding his arms over his chest.

"If you wish. Let me introduce you to your partner in this endeavor."

Clockwork mildly said as he floated across the room to a locked cabinet. He pulled out a long very old looking key and unlocked the cabinet and removed only one item and returned to Vlad with it in hand.

"No! Clockwork you can't!" the first Observant cried out.

"He will begin his destruction again!" the second Observant cringed behind the first, pointing to the dented Fenton Thermos Clockwork held.

Clockwork paid no heed to he Observants warnings and with his free hand, popped the top off the thermos and pressed the release button.

A stream of blue light tunneled out of the thermos and faded to reveal Danny Phantom, or his evil alter ego.

Dan looked about with total disdain, flexing his arms.

"It's about time you came to your senses and let me out of that thermos." his voice was flat and emotionless as he took in his surroundings.

Vlad could not conceal his astonishment when he saw the DP logo on the ghost's chest.

"Daniel? Is that you?"

Dan turned and smiled at the sight of Plasmius.

"Well, it looks like Old Home Day! Vlad Plasmius, my chief tormentor, arch enemy and cheese head deluxe! My, my, my! It's been a long time Vlad."

"This can't be Daniel, he's just a boy of fourteen!" Vlad wondered, not being able to take his eyes off Dan.

"Boys grow up Vlad. Grow up and smarten up. I grew up fast after my family was blown away at the Nasty Burger, and you helped greatly in my development, in fact you could say you gave birth to me, Pops!"

"This is madness!" Vlad declared.

"That's what everyone else thinks," Dan smiled as he walked slowly about the room under the ever watchful eyes of Clockwork. "In an alternate reality, I lost my family and friends in a freak accident. I then came to live with you, but my depression worsened until I asked you to remove my humanity so I wouldn't feel the pain anymore. You, in a weak moment agreed and when Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom parted company, the shock was too much for Danny Phantom and I suppose it's suffice to say the poor boy went nuts. He ripped the ghost from you and fused with it. Your evil side took over and well here I am! Ten years later that is, sorry I haven't sent you any Father's Day cards, but I've been living in a parallel dimension and stuck in that thermos, thanks to Danny Fenton of your world."

"I think that pretty well sums things up." Clockwork said in an almost cheerful manner.

"This is utter madness! What has all this have to do with me?" Vlad demanded, stomping his foot in much the way a child would not being able to get its own way.

"Right this moment, Danny is back in time, 1918 to be exact. He believes he's there to do a research paper on his family history, but I have also told him there is a problem there that he must fix." Clockwork explained, changing back to his adult form and turning the portal back on.

"This man is Uriah Fenton, Danny's Great Great Uncle. He is also a very evil man, a master magician and follower of the Dark Road. For several years he has been trying to harness the powers of ghosts to his own ends, to find and control a Ghostmaster."

"The Ghostmaster is a myth!" Dan scoffed, waving his hand.

"No, no. I've read about that," Plasmius said with a sudden surge of interest, pointing to the portal. "There is a legend of that in one of my

books. Something to the effect of harnessing spectral energy and becoming one with the ghosts and commanding them. I didn't bother to research it more since I'm half ghost myself, but you say this fellow has done it?"

"He will do it," Clockwork intoned darkly. "This is a test for Danny to see if he has the strength and will to overcome evil in his own bloodline."

Vlad gave Dan a long pompous look.

"Well, it seems that he's already done that by putting himself in a Fenton Thermos!" Vlad leaned close to Dan and said in a nasty tone,

"What's it like in there? Seaside condo with a view?"

Dan just looked down on the older ghost and growled,

"Keep it up, Pops and you'll find out for yourself!"

"Don't call me Pops, you overblown…."

"Enough of this!" Clockwork commanded sharply, lowering his staff between the two. "I would like to continue this before you two decide to tear each other apart. Now, Danny is in grave danger. Uriah has found out that he is half ghost and has decided to remove Danny's ghost half from him and with the help of young Tucker Foley, I'm afraid it will be easily done."

"Tucker Foley would never betray Danny!" Plasmius disagreed.

"I hate to say it, but he's right. Tucker may not have been the bravest, but he was loyal to the end." Dan noted, but with no hint of emotion.

"Do not underestimate Uriah Fenton's powers, he is a powerful sorcerer and will stop at nothing to rule the world. Tucker Foley is of the legitimate bloodline. He is an heir to the Ghostmaster legacy." Clockwork advised.

"I never would have dreamed it possible, young Mr. Foley, a Ghostmaster?" Vlad mused over the revelation.

"How does this affect us?" Dan asked.

"Uriah will seal his power by killing his brother Tobias and his son Daniel. Without them, there will be no Jack Fenton. Without Jack Fenton, Vlad Plasmius will not exist and without Danny Fenton, Dan Phantom will also not exist. Now I would say that you both have a stake in the survival of Danny Fenton, wouldn't you?"

Dan and Vlad shared a long hard look at each other. Dan's white hair flamed a bit higher and wilder at his disgust over the situation he'd been thrust into. He grabbed Vlad by the upper arm and walked over to a corner of the room.

"Look, Clockwork thinks he's got us over a barrel and maybe he does for the moment but we can turn this whole thing to our advantage."

"You have my undivided attention." Vlad said seriously.

"We can save Danny and still get what we need. For me, that's freedom for you, there must be some great things Uriah has that you can use for your own ends. I say we play along until we see a break and then we go for what we can get out of this. Agree?"

Vlad smiled darkly, holding out his black gloved hand.

"Agreed."

Dan returned the smile and shook hands with Vlad before they turned back to Clockwork.

"It would seem that we have little to no choice in the matter. Fine, we will go and play hero." Vlad smiled a little too nicely which was not lost on Clockwork as he changed again to his elderly form.

"Don't ever let any word of this get out. You could ruin my career." Dan said flatly.

"Very well, agreed. Now let's get to work." Clockwork smiled, a little too brightly himself.

Chapter VIII

"You seemed to have hit it off well with Uncle Uriah, Tuck. Grandpa Fenton says he's a tough nut to crack." Danny smiled as he and Tucker walked along the paths of the city park.

"He's not so bad once you get to know him. Got a real interest in technology of any kind." Tucker said as they walked along. Uriah had suppressed the spell he placed on Tucker so he would not raise Danny's suspicions, making unaware that he was bringing Danny to the danger that lay ahead. "Seems to me the Fentons are hitting it off well with all of Danny's friends."

Danny stopped suddenly and turned to face Tucker.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Dude, how blind are you? Daniel is way hung up on Sam! Haven't you noticed? Heck, they went to the movies together last night!"

"So, she can go out. It's not like we're going steady or anything."

Danny resumed walking but stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets to hide the clenched fists he was making.

"Kat says she's the first girl he's ever taken out. At least she made Jazz go as a chaperone." Tucker added. Danny turned sharply and faced Tucker.

"Alright already! I get the picture! It's not like anything is gonna come of it. We're going home tomorrow after I get the rest of the info I need from Uncle Uriah." Danny took a deep breath and looked at Tucker who was shocked by Danny's reaction. "I'm sorry Tuck, I shouldn't take it out on you. You're my best friend, always have been, always will be."

"It's ok Danny. I think you just don't realize how deep your feelings for Sam run, besides we're way too young to worry about those things, are we?" Tucker stopped at the end of the park. Across the street was Uriah's mansion. A sudden chill went down his spine.

"Are we? Plasmius thinks Sam and I would make a perfect couple. Fact is, he's already given his blessing to the match!" Danny said with a small laugh. Tucker laughed to as they crossed the street.

"Since when does he have enough experience with the ladies to be telling you who you can and can't marry? We're only fourteen dude, lighten up!"

They reached the front door and Tucker opened it.

"Shouldn't we knock or wait for a butler or something?" Danny asked warily.

"Uriah said the staff had the night off and to just come right in." Tucker smiled as they slipped through the massive oak doors.

"This place gives me the creeps!" Danny shivered, unaware of his ghost self warning him of danger.

"It's nice, c'mon this way." Tucker's usually brightness contrasted the gloominess of the mansion like night into day. The deeper they traversed into the house, the more ill at ease Danny felt until they got to the end of the hall and entered Uriah's private study. It was then Danny's breath turned pale blue.

"Tucker, there's another ghost here. My Ghost Sense just went off and I'm chilled to the bone."

"Maybe there are ghosts here, place could be haunted."

Tucker's easy going attitude was too much for Danny. He grabbed Tucker by the upper arms and spun him around to face him.

"What is with you Tuck? Since when are you so casual about ghosts?"

"Since I commanded him to be." came a dark voice as the door to the study swung open. Uriah towered over the two boys but Danny didn't have a moment as Tucker broke Danny's grip on him and shoved him into the room.

Danny landed with a thud on the thick oriental carpet. Uriah gently guided Tucker into the room and sat him down in a chair near the door. He bent over the boy and whispered in his ear. Tucker's face became unreadable with no emotion. Danny slowly got upand faced his uncle.

"I see it was an easy task to get you here. Your friend here did put up quite a fight to stay loyal to you, but he's mine now as you will soon be, Danny."

"What are you talking about?" Danny asked, trying to sound innocent enough.

"I know you are half ghost, Danny Phantom. Oh, don't look so shocked, dear boy! That abduction in my alley a day ago? That was all done for your benefit. I wanted to see you in action and I must admit I got my money's worth. You are everything the Spirit of the Mirror said you were and more!"

"Must be the ghost I sensed." Danny muttered under his breath. "Uncle Uriah, what do you want?"

Uriah smiled a sinister smile as he placed his hands on Danny's small shoulders.

"I want you, Danny. I need you to give me your ghost power. Do this and you will be my heir. It's that simple."

"Have they had a break out at the local nut house cuz from where I'm standing there's one nut missing and it's you!"

Danny quickly transformed into Danny Phantom and shot into the air. He hovered right below the ornately carved wood panels that made up the ceiling.

Uriah clapped his hands together and grinned with delight.

"Marvelous! Simple Marvelous! Tucker told me about your accident and the change in your, what did he call it? Oh yes, DNA. Amazing what modern science is capable of."

Danny let go an Ecto-Blast from his hand that landed Uriah on his back.

"You're a madman if you think I'm gonna just hand over my powers. I suppose this is another of those "rule the world" schemes?"

"Very perceptive Danny! You're much brighter than I gave you credit for. Unfortunately for you, you are not prepared for me!" Uriah smiled as he held out his left hand and yelled some strange word that Danny didn't understand.

"Pervadum!"

A blue bolt of energy went from the man's hand and hit the ghost boy dead center in the chest. Blue energy traversed Danny's body as he cried out and fell to the floor. Slowly, Danny got to his hands and knees, still numbed by the attack.

"Power…some kinda Evil…."

"Correct again Danny! My but you are a cleaver little fellow, aren't you? No mere ghost can stand against a Master Magician. I my dear boy, am a thirteenth level Wizard and Grand Master of the Lodge of Ghost Masters. I intend on ruling the world with my powers, but I need yours to seal my throne. I must merge with a ghost of great power and you have shown you have it and more you haven't shown. Now, I ask you again, will you give your powers to me?"

"Get lost, you crazed up fruit loop!" Danny rolled onto his back and fired back with a quick volley of small Ecto-Energy Balls that caught Uriah off guard and sent him flying into the desk across the room.

"Movastati!" Uriah called as he pointed to a marble statue on a tall wooden pedestal across the room from Danny. The object shuttered and suddenly flew across the room, just grazing the left side of Danny's head.

Danny groaned from the impact and rolled onto his side. His vision became blurred as he reached out his white gloved hand for Tucker.

"Tuck, please…help…me…"

As Danny fell unconscious, the warm glowing white bands circled his body and changed him back to his human self. Uriah got up from the floor and crossed the room to stand over the conquered boy.

"A remarkable child. Pity he chose poorly, but he will serve as an example to those who stand in my way."

Danny awoke slowly to a pounding in the back of his head. He remembered the fight and tried to raise his hand to his head, but found he couldn't. His head pounded as he gazed above him at the glass dome ceiling. The stars in the night sky glimmered dimly through the frosted glass panes of the upper level of the house. He managed to clear his vision enough to tilt his head to find his wrists were held down by dark metal clamps. He tried to move his feet but found the same cold resistant metal there also. Trying to concentrate, he found he was too weak to Go Ghost, which filled him with renewed fear.

"I was fearful that you might leave us. So good of you to rejoin the living, my boy." Uriah's cold voice added an extra chill to the room.

"What kind of sick game are we playing now?" Danny called up all the bravado he had.

From the depths of the chilled room, Uriah stepped into the candle light. Wearing a floor length robe of blood red with gold swirls and stars stitched all over it, and a solid gold band around his head with one large red stone in the center of his forehead that made him look even more malevolent. Slowly he made his way to the black marble slab that Danny was bound to. He placed his hands on either side of the boy's shoulders and bent down, boring into Danny's blue eyes.

"Oh, this is no game, nephew. This is, how did you put it Tucker?"

"The real deal, my lord." Tucker's voice came from the darkness of the back of the room. Danny's stomach turned slowly. Tucker's usually bright and happy voice was now dull and flat, void of all emotion and light.

"Ah, yes! This is the real deal Danny. Since you have refused to surrender your powers to me, I am now forced to physically remove them from you."

"That's impossible! You don't have the technology it takes…" Danny charged.

"No, I don't. Then again, I do have the magic! Believe me, the magic will be much more painful than the technology. Oh, I do know about your parents and their Fenton Ghost Catcher, Tucker has been very informative since I put him under my control."

"Let him go!" Danny demanded.

Uriah ran a cold hand along Danny's chin bone.

"No Danny. He will stay here with me, as will you. You will stay here, a prisoner, under one of my darkest spells, alive, but not awake. Dead, but still with a beating heart. An ancient spell called the Sleeping Death. People have been buried alive and remain that way to this day! Don't look so shocked, dear child! I have no intention of laying you in the ground where no one can find you! No, I have a special room just for you to lie in state where those who defy me can look upon you and tremble at what Uriah Fenton can do to his own blood, let alone a child! No Danny, I don't want you to die, at least not in the conventional way."

Danny's face showed the pain he felt in his heart. He tried to rationalize how someone in his own family could become evil. Then his mind flashed the vision of himself, ten years in the future, another time line, another life. He had been able to change that life.

"We must begin, but I will ask you one more time, will you give your ghost to me?"

Danny closed his eyes as Clockwork's words rang in his head from that afternoon at school.

**_"Only those truly worthy of greatness are given tests of courage and conviction. This is one of those times for you." _**

"No." Danny's voice shook from a mixture of fear and cold. Something deep inside told him that Clockwork would not abandon him.

"Very well Danny. I wished to seat you at my side, instead be the

heroic fool that you are." Uriah said with a low dark rage in his voice as he turned away from Danny, his robes sweeping behind him. Danny noticed at that moment that his attire had been changed from the suit he'd come in to a similar get up to his uncle's only his robe was a deep midnight blue and the stitching on it was silver. He moved his head to see that he was also wearing a white shirt that was left open from mid chest to his neck. The coolness of the room played across his skin, making him shiver. His Ghost Sense went off again as the blue mist escaped from his dry lips. Straining to see where the specter was, he caught sight of Tucker, standing silently next to Uriah. He was holding a silver chalice in his hands, his face showing no emotion, or any idea of what was going on.

Uriah spread his arms and muttered some more of the strange words Danny only knew meant bad for him. The man turned to Tucker and took the cup from him and approached Danny again.

"This is the essence of the Black Rose. A flower of ancient evil for it can render a human powerless as well as a ghost. Shall we see what it can do for a half breed such as yourself?"

"Sorry, I'm under the legal drinking age." Danny said with a determined smile. He planned on giving his uncle a fight, no matter how feeble.

Uriah grinned wickedly, brushing a stray lock of black hair from Danny's eyes.

"Charming…to the last!"

With his free hand, Uriah pinched Danny's nose shut. Danny couldn't hold his breath for long and when he opened his mouth to gasp he felt the cold sting of the silver cup to his lips and the equally cold and bitter tasting liquid pour down his throat. He couldn't help but swallow it to catch his breath. When the cup was empty, Uriah let go of the boy and motioned Tucker to come forward. He was dressed as Danny and Uriah, but his robe was a plain black. While Uriah went into another dark homily, Tucker merely took a white cotton towel and wiped the spillage of liquid from Danny's face and neck.

"Tucker, please…get out of here…warn Jazz…" Danny's speech was tattered and broken as the spell of the Black Rose made it's way into every corner of his body, numbing him, making it hard to speak. Tucker looked at his as if he were nothing more that a dusty statue that needed attending.

Danny tried to stretch his finger tips towards Tucker's hand and just managed to barely make contact. Tucker's eyes flashed brilliant for a moment before going dull again. Danny smiled, despite the growing discomfort.

Uriah once again returned to his place before Danny, motioning for Tucker to go back into the dark recesses of the room.

"Behold, the instrument of your downfall!" Uriah's voice boomed as he gestured over head. Danny gazed up and saw candles in a circle slowly growing brighter as their flames were reflected in a mirror. The face of the glass was smoky and moving. Danny realized that this was the ghost his sense had been warning him of.

Through the gray mist of the mirror, two vapid arms reached down towards him, the hands with their long sharp claws inching their way towards him until they hovered just above his bare chest. The bony gray fingers toyed with the frightened boy, just barely grazing his skin. Each caress sickened Danny with newfound terror.

Without warning, the hands plunged deep into Danny's chest, bringing a unearthly scream from him. His back arched as the arms tugged and pulled until they withdrew Danny Phantom cradled in their sinister clutches.

The ghost boy's terror was mirrored both in the flesh and spirit. Danny Phantom screamed, managing to spin around and face his mortal counterpart, desperately trying to claw his way back into Danny Fenton but the spirit in the mirror was too strong. Danny could only writhe on the cold black stone as he watched his ghost be pulled into the mirror and disappear into the misty reflection.

One last jolt of pain and then Danny's body went limp as he gasped, filling his lungs with the icy air. He felt hollow inside, almost as if the best part of him had been torn away. Danny's eyes mirrored the loss he felt as he caught just a glimmer of Tucker slowly backing quietly out of the room.

"Now, I command you! Transfer the ghost to me!" Uriah boomed.

"I cannot." the mirror replied smugly.

"What!"

"Do you ever read the instruction manual?" the mirror bemoaned, then explained to the angry wizard. "The transferal of ghost to human can only be done under a full moon. That's tomorrow night in case you haven't been keeping up with your moon phases either."

Uriah swore an ugly oath, then took a deep breath.

"Very well, if I must wait one more day, I will wait. No one can stop me now."

A groan escaped Danny's lips as he felt himself being lifted. The only other times he remembered feeling this way was after using his Ghostly Wail or the Ghost Fire. The two powers held a double edge to them in that they could deliver the deciding blow in battle but drag Danny to the edge of passing out from exhaustion. He was at this point now, but not from battle but from something worse.

"It's very nearly over now, Danny. I'm taking you to your room now." Uriah's voice sounded almost normal, as if Danny had fallen asleep on the couch.

Once outside the room, Tucker made his way quickly but quietly down the long flight of stairs that brought him to the main floor of the house. In the darkness he managed to find his way back to the study and slipped inside.

He leaned against the door, letting out a lungful of air that he had been holding for what seemed an eternity to him. Slowly, he raised his hand, the hand that Danny had touched. An exchange of feeling had happened at that moment, strong enough to shatter Uriah's hold on the boy. Tucker didn't know or care if that's what Danny had wanted. All he knew was he had to get help, but first he had to get the Book of The Ghostmasters away from Uriah before he found a way to make Tucker break the seal. Tucker rushed forward to the desk, but found the drawer that the book was kept in locked. Frantically, he shoved papers around until he found a long silver letter opener. Jamming it into the slip opening of the top drawer, Tucker forced the lock open and reached into the drawer and retrieved the book, once again wrapped in its velvet shroud.

Throwing off the ceremonial robe, Tucker grabbed the book and went to the large bay windows. Pushing one open, he slid out and ran for his life into the darkness.

Uriah carried his trophy up a winding staircase and into a room with no windows, only the one door. Danny could barely make out the room was all in shades of blue. Everything was blue, even the ceiling painted as the clear night sky. The light was dim, blue candles scattered everywhere, but they held a magic of their own for their flames were light blue casting a cold eerie glow.

Danny felt himself falling, or being lowered onto a soft bed. His blurred vision made out a glimmering canopy above him in what looked like spider webs. He reached out a shaking hand, but felt his uncle take it and place it on his chest.

"It's time to sleep, Danny."

"No…" somewhere he found the will to resist.

Uriah smiled, shaking his head.

"Pity to waste such a will, but you have made your choice, however bad it is."

He turned to a small table next to the bed and pulled the single Black Rose from the blue bud vase it was in. The flower was at the peak of bloom and seemed to fill the room with a rich perfume as Uriah shook it gently. Danny coughed as he turned his face away. His uncle laughed softly.

"Intoxicating, isn't it? It is the embodiment of Evil itself and that is why I give it to you, Danny. The last gift you will ever receive."

Uriah took Danny's right hand and wrapped the thorny stem around it. He then took both his hands and squeezed Danny's, pressing the thorns deep into his skin.

"Nooooooooo!" Danny cried as he felt this final phase of the spell wreak havoc in his body. The thorns excreted their deadly spell into his hand, letting his blood deliver the poison.

A shutter of realization.

A cry of pain.

Then Danny's eyes closed, his breathing became shallow and his skin slowly paled to near white.

"Thank you Danny and goodnight…forever." Uriah leaned over his nephew's near death body and kissed the boy on the forehead. He then turned and left the room, locking it behind him with a mere wave of his hand. The click of the lock echoed down the winding staircase as he slowly made his way back to his ceremony room, then on to the study where Tucker was to wait for him.

"Tucker? It's time for…"

Uriah stopped when he saw the black robe Tucker had been wearing thrown down on the floor. Uriah scooped it up, then threw it across the room.

"How could he have broken my spell? Blast me for a fool, I let him get too close to Danny in the ceremony and Danny must have touched him! It will be the last mistake I make!"

Uriah went to his desk and took a quick inventory of the mess. He then spied the broken lock on the drawer and pulled it open with such force the yanked the drawer out. When he saw the book was missing, he uttered a dark oath and threw the empty drawer across the room.

"Curse me a thousand times over for telling him too much!" Uriah said hotly as he picked up the black candlestick phone and clicked the receiver and asked for a number in a hurried voice. He was quickly connected.

"Damon? This is Uriah Fenton. Round up your boys, I have a job for you…yes this instant! The Foley boy has escaped…yes the one that was with my nephew, the colored boy, yes that's right. I want you to find him and take care of him, for good….no, I don't care how, just make it look like an accident. Run him down with your truck, I don't care, just get rid of him and make it look to the police like it was an accident, and Damon, find him before he gets to my brother's house, plus he has stolen a valuable book of mine and I want it back….yes, yes, but don't open it. Just return it as is. It's vital and worth a thousand dollars for each of you."

Uriah hung up the phone and smiled wickedly.

"Loyalty to Danny will only get you killed, my young friend. Pity this had to happen, you had the makings of a fine servant."

Chapter IX

Tucker ran through the back streets blindly, until he wasn't sure where he was. Even though he'd been born and raised in Amity Park, this was not the town of his birth. Street names and layouts had changed quite a bit in 84 years.

Sweat ran down his face and into his eyes as he darted down a dark dank alley. Blinking his eyes to get the sting of the sweat out, he ran headlong into several garbage cans, making a mess and a racket as well still clinging to the package in his arms.

When his hand just briefly touched Danny's during that dark affair back at Uriah's, it broke the spell he'd been under. Danny's friendship and trust was stronger than any black magic of Uriah's. Tucker had panicked, the flood of guilt for what he'd done to his best friend plus the fear of reprisal from the elder Fenton had taken ration and thrown it out the window.

He groaned as he pulled himself from the garbage. He knew the smart thing in retrospect would have been to continue to play along and then when he could, get hold of Jazz and tell her what had happened.

"I've made a mess of it!" he muttered, then froze as he heard men's voices on the street.

"He couldn't have gotten far, search every alley. Don't hurt him, bring him back to the truck and then we'll take care of the kid and above all get that book! Remember, Mr. Fenton wants it to look like an accident." a gruff sounding voice said from the far end of the alley.

Tucker's heart sank to his stomach. There was no way out without revealing himself and he knew he was far too tired to outrun the men. He silently curled up into a ball behind the trashcans and awaited his fate.

Which showed up in the most unusual form.

A blinding flash of blue-white light appeared near him. Tucker peeked over the cans to see Vlad Plasmius and another ghost standing a mere three feet from him.

"Must be here…ah! There you are, Mr. Foley!"

"Plasmius! The last thing I need! Who's your funny looking friend?" Tucker asked, forgetting about the men looking for him.

"You never were one for subtlety, Tucker." Dan said with a sneer.

"I heard something, down here!" one of the men yelled out as he charged down the alley.

"Oh please! This will be too easy!" Dan groaned.

"By all means, take the shot." Plasmius encouraged as he helped Tucker out from his hiding place.

The men came charging towards the trio, a worn leather blackjack in hand, ready to thump Tucker on the back of the head and drag him off to his fate. Dan stepped in front of Plasmius and Tucker, placing his hands on his hips and staring the men down. They stopped a mere two feet in front of the ghost.

"Get outta the way, you freak! We got orders to get that kid."

"And a boat load of money too!"

"What are you?"

Dan smiled, his ruby eyes glowing in the darkness.

"Me? I'm a ghost, and your worst nightmare come to life!"

Dan let an Ecto Energy Blast loose from both his hands that knocked the four men down.

"Who is he?" Tucker asked Vlad, who hand both hands on the boys' trembling shoulders.

"Someone you should know very well. It's Daniel, but from another time, another place." Vlad said calmly watching the men get ready for another assault.

"Danny? It can't be!" Tucker protested.

"Ghost or no, we're taking that boy!" the leader of the group ordered.

"Really?" Dan grinned, enjoying the encounter. "You boys better run along home before I really get mad and do some serious damage."

Damon, the leader of the group snarled at the ghost and charged him. Dan merely backhanded him, sending him flying down the alley. The three others hesitated only to have Dan raise his hands, then bring them down, his fingertips emitting an ectoplasm chain that he shot out and wrapped around the three remaining men. Cocking his head, he laughed as he let another chain loose and caught the leader of the group and dragged him back to where the others were. Another quick wave of his hand silenced the men with an ectoplasm gag over their mouths. The four assailants looked at the ghost with bug eyes amazement. Dan leaned down and looked at the men and said in a quiet, but firm voice,"

"Boo."

Dan turned to Plasmius and Tucker, looking very pleased with

himself.

"Haven't been able to do that for a long while, felt good!"

"Y, y, y, you can't be Danny!" Tucker stammered, his jaw dropping.

Dan bent down and tapped Tucker's jaw back shut.

"I guess you don't remember what happened and Danny never told you huh? I always was one to shield my friends whenever I could, but that was another life ago, another me. I'm not the Danny you know. I'm the monster he should have become if not for Clockwork's interference."

"Clockwork sent you both here? Why?"

"Let's discuss that in a nicer setting, dear boy. What's this you have?" Vlad asked, reaching for the book. Tucker clutched it tightly to his chest.

"No! Don't touch it! Something very dangerous I took from Uriah Fenton." Tucker said boldly. Dan and Vlad's interests were peaked.

"Really? Well I suppose we can wait until later, but for now I'll take young Mr. Foley back to the Fentons and you can go and rescue Danny." Vlad offered.

Dan nodded.

"I'll get Danny and bring him back. Don't look so alarmed Tucker! I'm not going to hurt Danny or any of you. We're here to help you. Boy, that hurts just to say it, let alone do it!" Dan became invisible and took off into the night sky.

"What about those guys?" Tucker asked as Vlad suddenly scooped him up in his arms and also became invisible.

"Ectoplasm has a very short shelf life. You should know that, Mr. Foley. If Danny were to come to study with me, he would know that and a whole lot more."

"Danny will never be like you!" Tucker said defiantly as Vlad took off into the night sky.

"The same way that you never betrayed him, I suppose. We will see."

Vlad smiled as he flew off toward the Fenton Works.

Dan found the mansion easily enough and phased through the wall to find himself in the study. The room had not been cleaned up from the fight between Danny and Uriah. Dan moved about the room slowly.

"He's been here. His signature is all over the room." Dan noted to himself as he closed his eyes and focused on Danny's Ecto Signature. He stayed invisible as he let himself be drawn along the path Danny had taken. Through the bookcase and down at long flight of stairs to the ceremony room.

Dan opened his eyes and saw through the darkness. He moved toward the dark stone slab and reached out and touched it. Danny's signature was strongest here. He laid both hands on the stone and allowed himself to absorb the evil that was there.

"Imagine that, someone in my family who's as evil as I am! Pity I have to fight him to save the kid, he'd make a great ally."

Dan reached out with his mind, trying to lock with Danny's signature again, but the trail had gone cold.

"This is where he split Danny in two. Now if I were some crazed wizard named Fenton where would I put Danny?" Dan pondered as he slowly walked about the room. "Wouldn't be next to the ham…that was Dad. Let's see, he's a Fenton so he has a big ego, he's a dark magician so double that….ah! This is too simple!" Dan said with almost childish glee as he shot up through the ceiling and through the whole house until he came to the door at the end of a long staircase at the top of the house. He stood at the door and materialized. Looking at the door, he sighed and kicked it in.

"Sometimes the old ways are the best!"

He entered the room and found himself in a room of blue lit by magic candles.

"Uncle Uriah must be going through his Blue Period." Dan mused as he caught sight of Danny on the bed. He walked over and stood before it, looking up at the ceiling where the spider web canopy started.

"This has to be a trap, it was too easy getting here."

As soon as he spoke a small army of Black Widow Spiders slowly made their decent down the spun fabric. Dan took a step back with a pleased look on his face.

"Nice touch! No human could get near Danny with them guarding him, but my dear old uncle wasn't expecting a ghost now, was he?"

Reaching out, he put a gloved hand on the lower part of the web. The spiders sensed the intruder and doubled their efforts to attack by dropping down the web faster. Dan released a power he seldom used, the Ghost Ice.

A crystal green sparkled from his hand and it traveled swiftly up the entire web turning the white web to green and freezing every spider in it's path. When the ice reached the spiders nest at the top of the ceiling, the entire structure shattered. Dan quickly leaned over Danny, spreading his cape over him as the ice fell about them in a billion sharp shards of ice.

"Works every time!" Dan muttered with self indulgent satisfaction as he scooped Danny up into his arms. The sight of Danny's white skin and ice cold body almost made him feel something for the boy. He shook his head, but the deathliness of Danny's condition made him mutter in a low, dark voice.

"This is not good, not good at all."

Chapter X

It was nearly nine that evening when Daniel walked along with Sam down the sidewalk towards the large brownstone house that would later be known as Fenton Works.

"I had a wonderful time Daniel." Sam said with a shy smile.

"I'm glad you decided to go to the movies again. It's nice to have someone to go with, I usually go alone you see." Daniel said shyly, pushing back the brim of his cap as they stopped at the front steps of the house.

Jazz stepped between them, the large brim of her blue hat almost knocking the teens off their feet.

"Uh, I'm going in now. Don't stay out here too long, you two or the neighbors will talk and Danny will get jealous."

"He won't get jealous Jazz, we're just friends." Sam protested as Jazz walked up the front steps.

"Sure, and I'm going steady with Dash Baxter!" Jazz said as she opened the door and slipped inside.

Daniel looked down to the ground and shuffled his foot anxiously.

"Sam, you're the most wonderful girl, I mean, what I meant was…Sparkies you get me all mixed up!"

"I'm sorry." she said quietly as he bravely took her hands in his. She found herself feeling something she'd never felt before. A warmth radiated over her as Daniel leaned closer to her and whispered,

"Don't ever be sorry for who you are, you wonderful…"

"Sam! Daniel! Come quick! It's Danny, he's been hurt!" Jazz screamed as the front door flew open, startling the two teens.

"What? What's wrong?" Sam squealed as she flew up the stairs, still holding onto Daniel's hands.

"I, I don't know…he looks like he's dead…and He's here!"

Sam shook her head and broke away from Daniel as she ran into the house. In the parlor she stopped when she saw Vlad Plasmius sitting next to Tucker who seemed to be asleep, but was in a hypnotic trance.

"What are you doing here and what are you doing to Tucker? Did you hurt Danny?" Sam growled as she approached the ghost. Vlad put up a hand of protest and turned his attention to Sam.

"Miss Manson, please! I'm trying to find out what happened to Daniel. Believe it or not I'm here to help. I find it hard to believe myself but that is the fact of the matter. Daniel is upstairs, in a very bad way I'm afraid. It seems Uriah Fenton put some sort of death sleep spell on the boy. Mr. Foley here is in a state of shock, so I'm using hypnosis to get the details of the encounter so that we can find a solution. Is that explanation enough?" Vlad ended his speech with a sharp tone.

"Sorry. You have to understand that I.." she said as he gave her a sour look.

"Don't apologize. Take Jasmine and see what you can do to help Mrs. Fenton, and don't worry about he other ghost, he's here to help too."

"Other…" Sam shook her head and saw Jazz halfway up the stairs.

"What does he mean by other ghost?" Sam asked as she rushed up the

stairs the best she could in the straight skirts.

Jazz stopped at the top of the stairs and put both hands on Sam's shoulders.

"The other ghost is Danny, but not the Danny we know. This Danny is from another time and he's evil. I'll explain it to you later, right now we gotta help Grandma Kat."

"An evil…." Sam tried to clear her head as they entered the master bedroom. Kat and Toby were fussing over the figure in the bed. Sam didn't notice the ghost standing in the corner of the room, but Jazz did.

"She doesn't know what happened back then. Let me tell her. If there's a speck of Danny left in you, please?" she asked the ghost.

Dan pondered a moment, then lowered his eyes and nodded.

"You had the guts to stand up to me, I owe you for that, and that alone."

"Thank you." she whispered, leaving him and joining her grandparents.

"I can't believe my own brother would do such a monstrous thing! What could be gained by hurting this boy?"

"His ghost powers." Dan said laconically from the shadows of the room. "Danny Fenton is half ghost, his sister can verify that. I'm Danny, but from a different time stream. I'm what Danny should have been, was meant to be."

"Can't be…Danny, please wake up!" Sam cried as she reached out to take his hand with the Black Rose still attached to the enforced grip.

"Don't touch that!" Dan ordered, stepping out of the shadows and grabbing Sam by the arm.

"Let go of me!" she growled fighting to get away from his strong grip.

"Dan is right Miss Manson. That rose can be fatal if handled foolishly." Vlad Plasmius said from the doorway. He entered the room and sat down on the edge of the bed.

Dan let go of Sam with a shove, pushing her into a nearby chair.

"Jazz, how do you know him? How can he possibly be Danny?" Sam asked with a small cry in her voice. Jazz knelt down next to Sam and told her about Dan while Plasmius examined Danny.

"The Black Rose is suppose to be extinct. This brother of yours is a powerful magician indeed!"

"Poor boy o'! Such a sweet child, how could Uriah turn on his own family like this! How can such a one as he be wrapped up with ghosts?" Kat muttered, leaning her head on Toby's shoulder.

"He's gifted Kat. The angels have touched him and given him this gift to fight evil." Toby marveled, looking down on Danny's sullen white face.

Plasmius snorted as he slowly pried Danny's fingers from the flower.

"Heaven had nothing to do with it, I can assure you of that! Danny's father, Jack Fenton is solely responsible for what Danny is and myself as well. I knew Jack in college, he was my best friend until the fool hit me with his proto-portal and I became a ghost also."

"Danny chose to use his powers for good, unlike you." Jazz added in a low voice.

"Now Jasmine, let's not go there. Daniel needs guidance to let his powers grow. He needs me as much as I need him." Vlad said in a voice more like a teacher than foe.

"I'd better check on Daniel. What of young Tucker?" Toby asked, heading out the door.

"I left him in your parlor, asleep. He needs to rest. We will need his assistance if we are going to defeat Uriah Fenton. Imagine that, I finally get to beat a Fenton! What fun!" Vlad said with a unusual brightness in his voice as Toby left the room. Vlad finished his work and held the flower up in the dim gaslight of the room.

"Marvelous! I will make a study of this when I return home, perhaps

I can propagate this bud and grow my own plant! Would be an amazing project, to bring back an ancient evil."

"Clockwork won't let you! He'll stop you, or Danny will!" Sam said hotly, wiping the tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her blouse.

"Sam? Do you ever shut up? That much of you I do remember!" Dan moaned lightly massaging his temples as his white flame hair burned brighter.

"How can you possibly be Danny?" Sam wondered.

Dan leaned over and smiled as he stared her down with his bright red eyes.

"I'm more Danny than he will ever be."

With that, Dan melted back into the shadows of the room.

"So, Mr. High and Mighty Ghost, what do we do about this poor lad?" Kat demanded, getting her Irish up. She was not about to let some ghost take charge of her household.

Vlad spoke, but kept his gaze upon Danny's deathlike form.

"Daniel is under a powerful spell. A very ancient curse, as I recall from my research. It's known simply as the Sleeping Death. He has been straddled between life and death. It will take something of equal power of good to break the spell. We must work quickly. According to the information I was able to extract from Mr. Foley, Uriah Fenton is planning on assimilating Daniel's ghost tomorrow night, at the height of the full moon."

"That's horrible!" Jazz squeaked.

"Indeed it is, Jasmine. He already holds great magic and to fuse Daniel's ghost side with that…even I cannot imagine the havoc he could cause. We must stop him at all costs." Vlad explained, pondering the predicament at hand.

"What do we have that has that much good in it?" Sam asked, looking over her shoulder at Dan.

"Don't look at me! I'm the last one you look to for goodness!" Dan protested, putting up his hands in front of him.

"Hey! Sam could kiss him! It should work!" Jazz said with a smile only to have it fade with Vlad's sour look and dismissive wave of his hand.

"That only works in fairy tales, my dears. This is real life. What we need is the luck of the Irish for this one."

"And getting' it's what you'll be doin' me boy o'!" Kat said with a voice of hope and a firm slap on Vlad's back that almost sent him tumbling to the floor. She went to the trunk at the foot of her bed, the same trunk that Danny had in his room. Fumbling through her chatelaine of keys, she found the one she was looking for and unlocked the trunk. Wildly, she flung pieces of handmade lace and clothing about until she found what she was looking for.

"This is our answer!" she crowed, holding up a small square shaped bottle of green glass with a cork stopper. "This is the spell breaker. Pure Irish Shamrock from the homeland. Me great, great grandma was quite a spell caster in her day."

"Wait, wait, wait! We've got a witch in the family?" Jazz asked in disbelief. Kat gave her a disapproving look.

"That be nothing to be ashamed of girl! The O'Hara's have always wielded their power for good, nary for evil. I haven't preformed a proper spell in many a year, America doesn't seem to see the need for it, but this is a family emergency and as long as he has one drop of Irish blood in him, it should work. Now, where's me grand mum's spell book?" Kat threw herself back into the truck and dug a bit more until she came up with an old beaten up manuscript bound in worn linen. "You two lasses come with me, I'll be needing some help."

"But I want to stay with Danny." Sam protested as Jazz pulled her to her feet.

"We'll stay with him. He's not exactly going anywhere." Dan blandly replied, flipping absently through a book he'd taken up off a nearby table.

It was near midnight when Tucker awoke from the Vlad induced sleep. The house was very quiet as he slowly got up and headed for the stairs. His steps were heavy as he climbed what felt to him like a mountain. The guilt of his actions back with Uriah weighed the teen down more than any loaded backpack could.

He looked inside the room he shared with Daniel and Danny and was surprised to find no one there. Looking down the long hallway, he saw a soft glow of light coming from the Fenton's room. Making his way down the hall, he stopped outside the room before knocking.

When no one answered, Tucker peeked inside through the door that was slightly opened.

"You can come in Tucker, we're not going to hurt you, at least not at the moment." Dan's deadpan voice quietly said.

Tucker sheepishly entered the room as if he were invading some off limits sanctuary. Vlad looked up from the periodical he'd been reading and smiled.

"Well, so nice of you to rejoin the living, dear boy! Don't look so alarmed. Mrs. Fenton and the girls are downstairs working on an antidote for Daniel here, with any luck it will work. We need your assistance with a project of our own."

"I can't help, I've made such a mess of things! This is all my fault!" Tucker moaned, dropping down on the top of the trunk at the foot of the bed.

"Why must there always be drama? Can't any just function without all this emotional mess? Look at me, I'm a perfect example of how fine life can be without humanity." Dan declared looking at Tucker with pitiless red eyes.

"Emotions and humanity are two different entities," Vlad corrected his other half. "You still feel, it's just your caring for feelings that has been torn from you. Apparently that half of you died with Danny Fenton. This whole other time stream can be quite disturbing. For me, Vlad Plasmius to be repentant of anything is indecent at best!"

"I nearly got Danny killed, it's all my fault!" Tucker moaned. Vlad and Dan just gave each other pained looks.

"Bad enough we have to help Danny, but Tucker too? That's way more than I bargained for." Dan growled as he got up from his chair and went over and stood before Tucker. Reaching out his hand, he pulled Tucker's chin up abruptly to make him look at him.

"Let's get something straight, Tucker. If you want to blame someone for this, blame Uriah Fenton, or better yet, Clockwork for sending us back here."

"I, I had a real bad feeling. I didn't want to come."

"Then blame Danny! Heaven knows he's always dragging you off into some danger or other!" Vlad said half heartedly.

"Look, Tucker we are going to need your help. Knowing you the way I do, I assume you brought your backpack with you?" Dan asked.

"Uh, yeah it's in my room." Tucker said with uncertainty as Dan let go of his chin and put his hands on his hips, still gazing down upon the boy.

"You have your PDA and a Fenton Thermos?"

"Sure. Never leave the house without them, why?"

Vlad slid out of his chair and approached Dan with growing curiosity

written on his face.

"What are you up to?" he asked.

"We are going to do some re-programming and Tucker here is going to help us. After all, he knows the workings of most the family arsenal as well as Danny does." Dan explained as he grabbed Tucker by the arm and gave him a shove towards the door. "Meet us down in the lab. We've got a lot of work to do."

"And so do we." Kat Fenton announced entering the room carrying a white porcelain soup tureen. Vlad lifted the cover and got a face full of a sweet smelling steam.

"You don't expect to get all of that in him, do you?" Vlad said with a wary look.

"Hardly!" Kat said moving past the two ghosts and placing the dish down on the nearby table. She was followed by Jazz and Sam carrying cups, spoons and towels. "Part of it we have to force feed him and the other is to soak his hand, try to draw out more of the blasted poison. If you be leavin' I suggest you do it now, we women have a lot of work ahead of us."

Jazz and Sam smiled. Neither of them had ever seen anyone stand up to these two formidable ghosts other than Danny.

"Now I see where the boy gets his courage from. I knew it wasn't from the Fentons. Ah well, off to work for us…oh by the way, have any of you seen Toby or Daniel? We could use their help on this." Vlad asked.

"Now that you mention it, no. Toby has never been much for crisis situations. He's probably taken Daniel out for some air, he likes to do that from time to time. Gives them a chance to talk without me butting in." Kat said with a dismissive wave as she put some of the green broth in a bowl and handed it to Sam.

"Going to have to force it down him, poor lad! Sam dear, hold that bowl steady, I'll have to pry his mouth open. Shut like the dead, he is!" Kat took her fingers and firmly pushed them into Danny's mouth until she loosened his jaw. Sam and Jazz tuned away, it seemed so heartless and rough. Vlad and Dan gave each other a cringing look as they left the room.

"She should do dental work on the side." Vlad said, rubbing his own jaw.

"She probably does." Dan said, with the same reaction.

Jazz had Danny's sore hand soaking in a dish towel that had been soaked in the shamrock liquid. They had been spooning the fluid into Danny for nearly an hour when he suddenly gasped for air then coughed.

"He's doing it! Saints preserve us, but he's a grand boy o'! Come on Danny boy, fight it!" Kat encouraged as she kept the fluid moving into him.

Beads of perspiration began for form on his face as he began to moan and thrash about.

"He's worse!" Sam worried.

"No dear. The magic of the shamrock is working against the magic of the Black Rose. The fact that he's looking worse to you means that he's fighting for his life. He's a Fenton for sure! They're always ready for a fight."

"Looks like we're in for a long night." Jazz sighed as she carefully removed the damp towel from his hand.

"Look! The sores, they're almost healed!" Jazz announced with wonder as she examined her brother's hand. Where the dark red swollen gouges had been from the rose thorns, the skin was just a slight pinkish color.

"Aye, that's a marvel to behold dear. Patience is what we need now. He needs to fight this and all we can do now is watch over him." Kat said with reassurance as she gave the two girls a hug.

Chapter XI

Toby stopped the car in front of his brother's mansion and sat there for a moment.

"Pop, I don't think this is such a good idea. Those two ghosts said that Uncle Uriah is evil and…" Daniel said quietly only to have his father's stern look stop him.

"My brother can be a mean one, that's a fact, but an evil magician set on world conquest? Something is not right here and I think if we just talk to him, make him see reason…"

"Pop, he tried to kill Danny! He took his ghost powers away from him!"

"All the more reason we need to talk to him. He's my brother, I know I can reach him, somehow." Toby Fenton opened the car door and got out followed, if reluctantly, by his son.

As they got to the front door, it swung open and Uriah stood there dressed in a velvet smoking jacket of dark gray and fine wool slacks.

"Toby! Daniel! What an unexpected surprise! Please, come in!" he said with more charm that he usually exhibited.

"Uriah, Danny's missing, along with his friend Tucker. We were wondering if you had seen them?" Toby asked as he followed his brother into the study. He and Daniel sat in seats in front of the large mahogany desk that Uriah sat behind, looking as if he'd been completing paperwork. Daniel gave his father a puzzled look, knowing he'd just lied to his uncle. Toby shook his head and turned his attention to Uriah.

"No. I haven't. I was under the impression they were leaving."

"They were, but Tucker said you wanted to see Danny." Toby said before he changed the tone of his voice to an even deeper sobriety. "There has been talk about you, brother. Folks have been saying you dabble in dark powers." Uriah gave him a dark look as he replied,

"You seem to believe this fairytale, Toby. That hurts me, brother, very deeply."

"I don't want to believe it. I know you can be a cold and ruthless man at times, but this talk of black magic is not to be trifled with."

"You speak of trifles to me?" Uriah laughed as he slowly rose and placed his long thin hands on the desktop and leaned forward. "Toby, you are such a fool! All these years you've had no idea of what I've been doing, the power I have been collecting. You and your pathetic son here have no idea of the power I possess and will possess come the full moon tomorrow night."

Uriah enjoyed the look of shock on his brother and nephews faces.

"Uriah, you're a sick man. Let me help you…" Toby started to rise from his chair, only to have Uriah reach out the left hand and call out a command.

"Comatrois!"

Toby gasped as he felt long strands of rope suddenly wrap around his body, pulling him back into the chair and binding him there, along with Daniel.

Uriah smiled with satisfaction as he walked around to the front of the desk and leaned against it.

"You see, dear brother and nephew, I need to secure my place in time and that means that you two will have to perish to make sure that no other Fentons can come back to this time and stop me. Danny is indeed here, but not up to receive visitors."

"No he's not! He's at our house where Ma is using her magic to help him!" Daniel blurted out before he could stop himself. His father gave him a pained look.

"Daniel, why must you take after your mother so?"

"Mirror! I command you to appear!" Uriah cried out as the smoke appeared in the mirror across the room. Uriah went quickly to it. "Tell me true, does the boy still sleep in the tower room?"

The mirror went dark for a moment, then the mist reappeared.

"No, my lord. He no longer slumbers in the place." the mirror replied coldly. Uriah grabbed a nearby brass ashtray and flung it at the mirror, shattering it to pieces.

"By all the Thirteen Levels of Darkness! How did he escape!"

"Danny has unusual allies, to say the least." Toby said calmly.

Uriah went to his brother and leaned over him, his face twisted with rage and evil intent.

"Who freed him?"

"Two ghosts from his own time. Actually they are his arch enemies but they also have a stake in his existence so to speak."

"There's no way to break my spell."

"My wife is a woman of the Old Ways and the old world, brother. At this very moment she is breaking your heartless spell." Toby said with a small smile.

"Danny will get his ghost back and then you'll be sorry, Uncle Uriah!" Daniel said boldly.

Uriah walked around the back of the desk and looked out the tall windows into the darkness of the night.

"It is my fault he escaped. I never thought the boy had allies strong enough to face my army of Black Widow Spiders. They would be no concern for a ghost, of course. Still, despite Kat's best efforts, the boy will be in no shape to confront me by tomorrow night when I assume his powers and dispose of the two of you."

"Uriah, if you have any heart left in you, spare my son. He's just a boy, he's no threat to you." Toby pleaded as fervently as any father would for his son's life.

Uriah turned to look at his brother and nephew.

"No Tobias. No heart, no mercy. You will both die and then I will deal with Danny Fenton, then no one can stop me." Uriah said with a twisted laugh that made the father and son look at each other with worry beyond worry.

It was almost dawn when Danny slowly stirred and began to wake. After several hours of sweats and twisting about, he finally fell into a normal night sleep, the color slowly returning to his skin and his breathing also returning to a regular rhythm.

Reaching up a hand, he rubbed his eyes and slowly blinked them open and stretched over to his left side.

"Well, good morning, Little Badger!" Vlad Plasmius smiled wickedly as he sat perched on the left side of the bed.

"Huh?" Danny muttered as he rolled over to his right side.

"Good Morning kid, ready to rumble?" Dan Phantom said with a dark laugh in his voice.

"Aaaaauuuuggghhhhh!" Danny screamed and buried himself under the covers, shivering with shock.

Dan and Vlad exchanged a pained look as Vlad grabbed a handful of the blankets and pulled them back.

"Come out of there, you little coward! Never thought the day would come when you'd be afraid to see me!" Vlad said scornfully as Danny sat up in bed, but quickly slumped down as his head began to spin.

"You had a pretty rough night Danny." Dan said as Kat rushed into the room with Sam and Jazz close behind.

"What are they doing here? What's going on?" Danny demanded loudly, only to wince at the pain he caused in his head. He didn't have much time to get an answer and Jazz and Sam pushed past the two specters and flung themselves at Danny, hugging him tightly and Jazz smothering him with kisses.

"Oh gross Jazz! Knock it off! Sam, stop crying! What's going on here?"

The girls backed off to give Danny some space.

"Danny, we're just so happy you're ok. Grandma Kat was able to break the spell Uncle Uriah cast over you." Jazz smiled.

Danny looked at her with a blank expression, then the memory of what happened suddenly came rushing back to him.

"My ghost…he took, no that thing in the mirror…tore him right out of me! It hurt so…" Danny bowed his head and clutched his chest as if the memory brought the physical pain back.

"Daniel, it's going to be alright. We are going to get your ghost back." Vlad said earnestly as he sat down on the bed again and in a very out of character moment for him, put an arm around Danny's shoulder, pulling the boy close to him.

"Seems Clockwork thinks a great deal of you, to let us come to help." Dan added, giving Vlad a very sour look.

"I, I don't understand." Danny said with a shake in his voice.

"Well, it seems that your Uncle Uriah is planning on killing Tobias Fenton and his son so he will be the only Fenton and stop any more Fentons from coming back in time and destroying him. The fact that Dan Phantom and Vlad Plasmius both exist due to Jack Fenton as does Danny Phantom, your friend Clockwork felt it was in our best interest to come and lend a hand." Vlad explained slowly then gave Danny a pained look as he added,

"Uriah Fenton! And you call me a crazed up fruit loop! He makes me look like the Pope!"

Danny closed his eyes and put his hands out in front of him.

"Just give me a moment to let this soak in. You mean to tell me that the two of you are here to help me? Not beat me up or mess around with me, but help?"

Vlad sighed and looked toward Dan.

"You never were the brightest of boys, were you?"

Vlad's question took Dan off guard and the put his hands out to his sides.

"Hey! I was fourteen! What do you expect? A brain surgeon?"

Danny suddenly flung his head back and his eyes filled with new fear.

"Tucker! Where's Tucker?"

"Down in the lab working on the Fenton Thermos he brought along. We are re-calibrating it to home in on your Ecto-Signature to trap it when that bag of nuts uncle of ours decides to have his grand ceremony and take our ghost into his body. What a jerk!" Dan sneered.

"I gotta see him! He was under a spell too, can't imagine what he's going through!" Danny worried as he jumped up and stood on the bed. Sam and Jazz giggled. Vlad shook his head and Dan just slapped a hand up against his face.

"Before you go running about the house, please put some clothes on, boy o'? Those underwear are quite a sight!" Kat laughed at Danny's red and white polka dot boxer shorts.

Danny blushed a deep shade of red as he dropped back down on the bed. Kat went off and came back a few moments later with a pair of pants.

"I hear the lovely Paulina likes your boxers, my boy!" Vlad snickered.

Danny shot him a dark look.

"Can't a guy have any privacy in his life?" Danny complained as he slipped the dark blue pants on.

"Not as long as Danny Phantom has any part in your life. You're my hobby, dear boy." Vlad smiled as Danny scooted off the bed and headed out of the room.

"Get yourself another hobby, or better yet a cat!" Danny called back as he hurried down the hallway.

"Cat? What's with the cat? Oh! I remember! That time when you got Mom and me stranded out in the Rockies! Good times!" Dan smiled to himself. Vlad's smile quickly faded.

"On line dating, or a cat!" he snarled.

Danny raced through the house, but when he reached the stairs that led to the lab, he stopped cold.

"Better take this slow, Fenton. Tucker's probably about ready to go off the deep end." Danny said softly to himself as he slowly descended the stairs. As he stepped into the lab, he looked around in the dim light and saw Tucker hunched over the wooden work bench with a couple of brass desk lamps lighting his work area. Danny walked slowly up behind him, almost afraid to speak as Tucker was deeply involved with the work in front of him.

He had a roll of his electric tools out before him and the Fenton Thermos half way taken apart.

"Tucker?" Danny asked in a whisper.

"I'm busy, can't stop." Tucker said flatly as he carefully pulled out a microchip with a pair of tweezers.

"Please, Tucker…talk to me. It's Danny."

Slowly, Tucker put down the tweezers and turned in his seat to see Danny smiling.

Tucker showed no emotion as he closed his eyes and turned away.

"Tuck, it's alright. Everything is gonna be fine!" Danny said brightly, trying to lift the cloud in the room.

"How can you say that? After what I did to you?" Tucker asked with a emptiness in his voice that cut Danny's heart.

Danny leaned on the bench and tried to look into Tucker's eyes.

"You didn't do anything! It was Uncle Uriah! He used you, Tucker. You and me both."

"There's more to it than that," Tucker said, almost choking on his words as he finally turned to face Danny. Danny was shocked to see how tired his friend was, having been up all night working, plus the horrible guilt he was dragging around.

"Remember a few days ago, when you told me about that nightmare you had, about us and Sam? I was evil, I was the Ghost Master! Danny, you're uncle is the Ghost Master!"

"So, it was just a dumb dream. I told you I probably ate too much junk at the movies that night." Danny said, trying to trivialize the dream, but Tucker would not let go.

"Danny, he's touched me! He showed me The Book of Ghosts, He says that I'm a Ghostmaster , that I can control ghosts! What if in the future I do…turn on you?" Tucker stared vacantly at the diagrams on the wall in front of him. "Danny, I can't take that chance. I've decided I can't be your friend anymore."

Danny felt as if he'd been struck by a four way blow from four Vlad's. He walked away a few steps, feeling himself shake.

"It's the only way I can make sure you and Sam are safe. I've had all night to think it over and don't think Vlad or Dan had anything to do with it because they don't know a thing about this. Only you and I, not even Sam."

Danny exhaled the lungful of air he'd been holding, hoping his next move was his best.

"So, you're just gonna quit on me? Just like that? You're gonna save me from some evil Tucker Foley in a dream? You're just gonna dump everything we've done, everything we've been to each other? Just like that?" Danny began to tremble as he felt an anger boiling up inside that he couldn't hold in. Reaching out, he grabbed Tucker by the arm and dragged him off the stool and held him tightly by both arms.

"You listen to me Tucker and listen well! You're my best friend, the only friend I can confide in. You know things that even Sam doesn't know and you wanna know why? Because you're my best friend, that's why! Best friends don't run away when the going gets tough. The only running they do is to their best friend who is there to understand and be there for them! I'm lost without you, dude!"

"Danny, please…don't!" Tucker felt the tears well up in his eyes as did Danny as he held tight to Tucker's arms and shook him as he spoke.

"You are the closest thing to a brother I'll ever have! I couldn't stand to loose you. I almost lost you, Sam, Jazz and my parents because I was bad, but I was able to change that future! Tucker, the future is ours, not some stupid dreams!"

"I'm scared…"

"So am I, Tuck! I feel so empty without my ghost! If you walk away from me now, I just don't think I'd have the strength I need to do this. I remember you said you had a bad feeling about coming here, so blame me for that, but don't walk out on me!"

Danny closed his eyes tightly and flung his arms around his friend.

"I, I…I'm so sorry!" Tucker cried, letting go all the emotion he'd

been holding in all night long as he worked.

"I'm sorry too! I'm a jerk." Danny sobbed.

They stood together for several minutes until Tucker slowly pulled away, wiping his eyes and sniffing.

"Now I know why the girls do this so much, makes you feel a whole lot better!"

"Yeah, but let's not tell them, we'd never hear the end of it!" Danny smiled, wiping his eyes with just the heel of his hand. "Friends?"

"Forever, dude, forever!" Tucker smiled.

"Well! If you two are finished with this nauseating love-in, perhaps we can have a bite to eat and get an update on what's been going on down here, besides what we just saw." Vlad said, appearing just inches from the two friends.

"I liked you better when you were covered in garbage, cowering for your life." Dan said with a superior tone in his voice from the stairway. "Be careful Danny. Friendship is so over rated."

"Not ours guys." Danny smiled, throwing an arm around Tucker's shoulder.

"Well now, that's a fine sight to behold!" Kat announced as she came down the stairs. "But, if you be thinking to be sitting at my table half dressed, young Mr. Fenton, you'll be thinking wrong, me boy o'! Now scoot up these stairs and finish dressing! You look positively naked!"

"Dude, she hasn't seen you in your boxers then." Tucker grinned.

"I'm afraid she had." Danny smiled sheepishly as he slowly walked past a sneering Dan who grabbed Danny by the arm, stopping him momentarily.

"Danny, if I were you…I take that back, since I am you, do us both a favor and dump the polka dots shorts? Have some dignity?"

Danny just smiled and shook loose of the ghostly grip and headed up stairs. Halfway up the stairs, he turned and shot a smile to Dan.

"I can't afford dignity Dan, it's way too expensive. Friendship is free, now that I can afford."

Chapter XII

Kat was clearing the table with Sam and Jazz when they heard the front door open. Kat put down her dishrag and turned with a big smile.

"Well, it's high time you two came back home, I was worried…"

"Sorry to disappoint you Kat, but it's not Toby and Daniel."

Came Uriah's smooth voice from the kitchen doorway. He looked menacing in his black suit and overcoat. He looked smug as he sat down at the table without invitation. "Matter of fact, I've come to let you know they will not be coming back, ever."

Kat's dark Irish rage took over as she grabbed Uriah as she leaned over the table.

"Where is my husband and son, you spawn of Darkness? We know what you nearly did to these poor lads!" she pointed her free hand to Danny and Tucker. "What foul game be ye up to?"

"Release your grasp on me, you sad excuse for a washwoman, or I shall have to remove it by force." Uriah growled.

"I would not recommend that. I am not the gallant type to be sure, but we are all bound by a common cause here and I assure you, I will make you regret your actions." Vlad Plasmius said, slowly entering the room.

"And what he misses, I'll finish." Dan Phantom added from behind Vlad.

Kat let go her grasp of Uriah as he surveyed the two ghosts.

"So, you are Danny's friends?"

"Hardly. Actually they're my two arch enemies, but their fate hangs in the balance as well as mine." Danny said coldly. "Without my father, Vlad Masters never becomes Vlad Plasmius and without me, Dan Phantom just doesn't exist."

"Remarkable! I'm enjoying the fact that I'm making so many people miserable, ghost and human alike! But that is not the reason for my visit."

"Speak your piece and leave my house." Kat ordered, hands on her hip.

Uriah nodded his head.

"Very well. I'm so sorry you left my party so early Danny! You made such a charming centerpiece to my tower room." Uriah teased as the boy seethed. "Alright then, to business. As I said before, I am not going to release Tobias or Daniel. Unfortunately for them they both must perish for me to seal my plans for power. I cannot risk having another Fenton come from the future to destroy my plans now, can I?" Uriah smiled, leaning forward on the silver guild cane he carried.

"What I want is my book back. Yes Tucker, I know you stole it and I want it back, along with you and Danny."

"You ask a lot Uncle Uriah. What do you plan on giving back in exchange?" Danny pressed, bearing his gaze on the older man.

"Well played, Daniel. Well played indeed!" Plasmius said quietly in Danny's ear, making the teen smile.

"Give? I give nothing! I'm in control here. I have Tobias, Daniel and Danny Phantom. You have nothing to use as leverage." Uriah shrugged casually.

"I have the Ghostmaster book." Tucker grinned.

"That you do. But you have no idea how to use it now, do you?" Uriah read the sudden realization on Tucker's face. "Thought so. Now I will expect you two boys at eleven tonight. If you come an surrender yourselves I promise Tobias, Daniel and Danny will die quiet painlessly."

"What if we don't come?" Danny asked as Uriah rose from the chair. He poked Danny in the chest with the jeweled handle of his walking stick.

"Your sister, your little friend here and Kat will be visited by a rather wicked illness. Something that makes this influenza epidemic look like a summer cough. Now, why watch them slowly die in agony? Come, and I will leave them alone."

"Don't you threaten my brother…" Jazz angrily said, picking up the iron skillet and charging at Uriah who pointed his walking stick at Jazz.

"Vermontroz!" he ordered as a flash of power leapt from the staff and went to the pan, making it hit Jazz in the face. She stumbled backwards, dropping the pan on the floor with a loud clunk.

Danny jumped to his feet, tensing his body.

"I'm Going….oh crud!" his voice fell as he remembered he had no ghostly powers.

"That sir, was totally uncalled for!" Vlad barked as he went to Jazz to see if she was alright. "There are other ways to deal with unruly teenagers, believe me."

"Remember Tucker, eleven and bring my book. You are about to step into a bigger world." Uriah smiled as he tipped his black top hat and left the house.

"Well! Fine couple of banshees ye be!" Kat snorted, getting a cold cloth for Jazz. "Why did you not take the fellow down?"

"This is not the time or place for battle, woman!" Vlad replied hotly, turning his attention to the woman.

"Everyone! Please, let's calm down here!" Danny called out, waving his arms about. "Focus, people! We need to come up with a plan or we're toast."

"Well, at least not me, seems I'm getting the better end of the deal…owwwww!" Tucker said smugly only to be blasted on the arm by Dan. He gave Danny a wink of the eye.

"Admit it, we've always wanted to do that."

Danny shook his head and paced about the crowded kitchen. Jazz reached out and grabbed him by the arm.

"Danny, whatever you do, be careful. Without your powers…"

"I know Jazz," Danny smiled, giving his sister a hug. "Gonna have to play this really close to the vest. First problem will be getting my ghost back."

"From what Mr. Foley told me, Uriah is planning some grand ceremony probably at midnight tonight…Hummmm, coinciding with a full moon, makes perfect sense if you're a power crazed maniac."

Everyone in the room stared at Vlad.

"What? I'd do the same…oh, I get the point. Apparently he has a Spirit Mirror and that's what's holding Danny Phantom prisoner."

"Tucker had an idea how to get Danny Phantom back and I hate to admit it, but it's a good one, and the only one we have." Dan said in a low, emotionless voice.

"What is it, Tuck?" Danny asked hopefully.

"I've tinkered with the polarity of the capture stream. As it is, they just suck in any spectral energy they're aimed at," Tucker said with a flush of joy at just being able to talk technical again. "I happened to have a newer model of the Fenton Thermos with me, you know the one with the sample tray?"

"Oh yeah, my parents way of getting Ecto samples with no fuss or muss. Just suck the ghost in and pull out the little tray on the side. Hope I don't have to try that one out." Danny stared down at his sister. Jazz just smiled sheepishly.

"Anyways, what I need to do is put a DNA sample of Danny into the thermos via the sample tray. When the thermos is activated, it will seek out the specter that the DNA matches, which in this case will be Danny Phantom, then we point to Danny and shoot. Danny has his powers back and we kick some bad guy butt. Not a bad plan, huh?" Tucker beamed.

"Gotta admit it Tucker, you do have your moments!" Sam smiled, reaching across the table and squeezing his hand.

"As I see it, the biggest obstacle we face is timing. We all need to be in our places at the right time. Tucker and Danny need to be at the Fenton Mansion by eleven." Vlad pondered. "Dan, can you take out that Mirror Spirit?"

"Consider it done. I'm itching for a good fight. All this niceness is giving me a rash." Dan grumbled, scratching his gloved hand.

"Fine, I'll see to it that the present day Fentons make their escape before things get too wild which I'm certain they will. Mr. Foley, whatever you do, hang on to that book with your very life."

"Wish I'd never seen it." Tucker muttered.

"What do we do?" Sam asked eagerly for the ladies.

"Stay here and oh I don't know, make some fudge or something!" Plasmius said with a wave of his hand.

"But Danny…" Sam began, but Danny put up a hand of protest.

"Sam please! This isn't the Box Ghost we're going after. Besides, it's my family and I have to deal with it. Besides if something goes wrong I want you and Jazz to take Kat with you back to our time." Danny pulled out Clockwork's watch and put it in her hand, closing it tightly around it.

"I don't like it any more than you, darlin', but this is the men folks fight and it's best we women stay home and wait." Kat said, putting her arms around both the girls.

"Lets go down to the lab and finish up the work there. Daniel, we will need a DNA sample and blood is the strongest for the connection we need to make."

Vlad motioned for the fellows to follow him downstairs to the lab.

"Great! One of the biggest fights in Danny's life and I can't help! This is so medieval! I can fight just as well as any of them!" Sam fumed as she finished clearing the table.

"Sam, I wanna help Danny too, but sometimes we can't.We gotta be ready for whatever happens." Jazz said quietly.

Chapter XIII

It was near eleven thirty that night when Tucker and Danny entered the mansion. They had changed back into their regular clothes for the sake of being able to move about more freely than the constricting suits of the day. Tucker had his backpack which held the modified Fenton Thermos and the Book of the Ghostmasters.

"This way. The Grand Room is up on the top floor." Tucker said quietly as he and Danny made their way up the steep carpeted staircase.

"Talk about the lamb going to the slaughter…" Danny mused under his breath as they finally came to the uppermost part of the house. The twin doors opened without assistance and the two boys walked slowly inside.

Danny vaguely remembered the room except for the large black marble slab he'd been strapped to which was now covered with a very ornate black and gold cloth. A cold shiver ran through him as he looked above to the engraved glass dome held in place by fine hand worked iron scroll that allowed the light to filter in from the night sky.

"Danny? Tucker? Is that you?"

"Grandpa Toby!" Danny said with a jump in his heart as he and Tucker rushed over to a dark corner of the room. Tucker slipped off his backpack and pulled out a small penlight.

Toby and Daniel were bound together by chains in chairs that were arraigned back to back. Danny tried to pull the chains, but they were secured tight against Toby's large barrel chest.

"Get out of here boys! My brother is a madman and means to do you both harm." Toby pleaded. He gave Danny a hurt look before he asked him to check Daniel.

"He's still alive, but unconscious." Danny said with gave Toby a bit of relief. "Don't worry, help is on the way."

"I fear your help will not arrive in time, Danny." Uriah's deep voice filled the room as he stepped into the candlelight at the far end. He looked more menacing than he had before. His robes were even more elaborate than before with small sparkling stones in the center of the stars and a gold band around his head with a large bright orange Mexican Fire Opal in the center and a matching one hanging from a gold pendant.

"You boys are prompt, I like that." he smiled as he approached. With a wave of his hand the whole room lit up with hundreds of candles burning away.

"I suppose it wouldn't do any good to ask you to let them go?" Danny inquired, motioning to Toby and Daniel.

"I'm afraid not. I cannot take the risk of another Fenton coming back here and ruining everything I've worked so hard for. You should have stayed asleep Danny, at least you would have been alive. The three Fentons must perish." Uriah gloated as he smiled down on Danny, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I do promise you a very nice funeral. Nothing but the best for my family. I'll even lay you to rest in the mausoleum I just had built for myself. I know I won't live forever, but it will stand as a grand reminder to all of my greatness and a place for my followers to come to worship me." Uriah looked directly at Tucker who backed away, clutching his backpack to his chest.

"No way! I'm not going to serve you. I don't want the power in this book or any other!"

"After your friends are gone, we shall sit down and talk again, perhaps have some more tea? You liked it so much before." Uriah teased as he moved away from them. "Now, it's time to begin the transfer of your ghost to me and with it, unlimited power. So just sit down and behave yourselves and feel privileged that you are going to witness something that has not been seen in a millennia!"

With a gesture of his hand, Uriah brought two ornate high back chairs from a corner of the room to right behind Tucker and Danny. The boys fell into the chairs as ropes spun around them, securing them tightly. He turned and walked away from the boys.

"So far, so good. Nothing we didn't expect." Danny said under his breath, watching as two red vapors slipped from Tucker's backpack and into the shadows of the far corners of the room.

"Are you sure those two aren't just gonna up and double cross us?" Tucker whispered worriedly.

"No. They have as much at stake here as we do. For now, we sit and enjoy the show." Danny whispered as he watched the two vapors slide under a side door.

They materialized quickly and spoke quietly.

"I'll take care of matters here, you find that mirror spirit. Make sure you smash every mirror in the house so he has no place to run to." Vlad said.

"Then after we get Danny Phantom away from him, I get to smash mirror boy?" Dan asked hopefully.

Vlad patted the ghost on his broad shoulders and grinned.

"Oh yes, my friend! You may have card blanc on this one."

"Then let's get this show on the road." Dan smiled as he disappeared.

Vlad became invisible himself and went back into the main room where Uriah was reciting some ancient rite that had Danny and Tucker nearly bored to tears. He went to Toby's side and used a very low level Ecto power to break the chains that bound the man, being ever so quiet about it.

Toby felt the chains loosen, but before he rose from the chair he heard a voice in his ear.

"Take your son and quietly slip through that side door. Do not worry about Danny and Tucker, I am here to help you, despite the fact it makes me ill to say it, let alone do it."

Vlad carefully wound the chain up quietly in his hands and Toby scooped his son in his arms and did what he was instructed.

"What a refreshing concept! A Fenton who does what he's told! Amazing times, these are." Vlad said under his breath.

The minutes ticked away slowly as Uriah continued with his ceremony, now lighting a bitter incense that filled the room, making both the boys feel ill.

Vlad, still invisible, moved slowly around to the back of the chairs the boys were bound to. Carefully, he cut the chains just enough so that the boys would be able to free themselves without giving away the fact they were free too early in the game.

As Vlad worked, Uriah turned to face the boys.

"Now witness the power that is mine!" he announced in a booming voice that unnervingly reminded Danny of his own father's voice. Uriah was so caught up in his own spell binding that he failed to notice Toby and Daniel were gone. "I will usher in a new world order. A new faith that will topple all others and make of me a god!"

"Ego, thy name is Fenton!" Vlad sighed quietly as he continued to work.

"Children, behold! The instrument of my ultimate power!" Uriah announced as the same mirror that had taken Danny's ghost away from him slowly lowered itself again, this time in a straight up and down position, much like a dressing mirror.

"This is your show now, Daniel. Make it good for I do not relish the thought of spending my life working on urine samples." Vlad said as he finished the last link of chain. Tucker and Danny exchanged bizarre looks then braced themselves for their escape.

"Spirit of the Mirror, hear me! The moon is in it's place, the time is now. Transfer to me the ghost that I may have power over all!" Uriah cried out spreading his arms and closing his eyes.

The gray mist appeared and the two mangled arms appeared through the glass, tightly holding Danny Phantom. His green eyes were filled with dread as he was pushed toward the madman.

"Now Tuck!" Danny yelled as they jumped up, breaking the weakened chains that held them. Danny ran towards the mirror as Tucker reached into the backpack, pulled out the Fenton Thermos and tossed it to Danny who caught it.

Before Uriah could react, Danny popped the top off the thermos, aimed and pushed the on button.

A blast of blue white vortex hit Danny Phantom and quickly ripped him from the grasp of the mirror. In a matter of moments, he was safely contained in the Fenton Thermos. Tucker rushed up to him and grabbed the thermos from Danny, aiming it at Danny's chest.

"No! This cannot be! I forbid this!" Uriah cried out only to find himself being held back by an invisible force which materialized into Vlad Plasmius.

"Hurry boys!" Vlad commanded.

Bracing himself, Danny held his arms out from his sides and closed his eyes.

"Tucker, Ghost Me!" he said as Tucker threw the release switch.

Danny Phantom came spinning out of the thermos and smiled as he saw his human self waiting for him.

"Going home!" he said happily as he sped into Danny's chest. Danny doubled over for a moment as he felt the ghost once more fuse within him.

Danny was whole again.

"I'm Going Ghost!" Danny cried out as the warm white bands engulfed him and transformed him into Danny Phantom.

"Woohooo! We did it!" Tucker whooped.

Vlad smiled as he shoved Uriah to the floor.

"I believe this is the part where you, oh how do you young people say it? Kick some bootie?"

"Kick some butt, close enough!" Danny grinned as he shot up in the air and hovered above his uncle.

"This battle is just beginning, nephew!" Uriah cried out. As he got to his feet he hissed some dark command and a bolt of blue flew towards

Danny who was able to fly out of harms way.

"Gonna have to do better than that!" Danny smugly called out as he hovered just under the dome of glass.

Uriah turned his attention to Tucker who slung the Fenton Thermos over his shoulder, letting it hang by it's strap. The magician strode quickly over to Tucker, grabbing him by the upper arms and shaking him.

"I command you, open the book! Obey me, boy and destroy these ghosts!"

Tucker suddenly felt Vlad's arms grab him and pull him out of Uriah's grasp. Vlad stood before the magician with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Can't you find anything better to do than bully a couple of fourteen year old boys? Well, you'd better, because that's my job!" Vlad said with an angry roar at the end as the backhanded Uriah and sent him flying into a corner of the room. He fell into a heap, but not before knocking over a candelabra which spilled it's candles on the wooden floor. A couple of candles managed to roll beneath a drapery and quickly caught fire.

Uriah sat up and managed to fire a volley from his hand that caught Danny while he was helping Tucker up. He doubled over briefly as Uriah scampered up an iron spiral staircase.

"He's headed for the roof!" Vlad called out, flying up after him.

"Danny! The place is on fire!" Tucker cried out as the room quickly became consumed by fire.

"Then let's take this fight to the next level!" Danny grabbed Tucker and turned invisible as they flew up through the dome and onto the roof.

In the meantime, Dan was reeking all kinds of havoc throughout the house. Every room he searched and when he found a mirror, he blasted it into a million shards of glass. He had to make sure there was no place for the Spirit of the Mirror to escape to.

"Common, you glass loving freak! Show yourself and fight like a ghost!" Dan called out as he smashed the last remaining mirror except for the one in the Grand Room.

"Who dares free me from my glass prison?" the voice of the misty ghost called out as Dan's red Ghost Sense went off.

"Thought you might like to come out and play with the big kids." Dan teased, walking down the second story hallway.

"Insignificant puff of vapor, you are to trifle with me!"

Dan rolled his red eyes and threw his hands up in the air.

"Now you went and did it! You can call me a lot of things, but insignificant? I am the most evil ghost the world has ever seen!"

"Then prove it." the mirror ghost dared as it appeared before Dan.

It was still very misty, but tall and bent like a gnarled old tree. It's face was sunken and scarred and it's gray hair flowed about it's ugly head as it's body sparkled with Ecto Energy. "I have not been out of my prison for centuries, I should thank you for that. The last mirror in this house has just broken, upstairs in the Grand Room, oh by the way the house is on fire."

"Thanks for the update, it will be your last!" Dan growled as he let go a green ball of Ecto Energy directed at the spirit's chest. It caught him and flung him to the end of the long hallway, just above the grand staircase that lead to the foyer.

The spirit shot up quickly and put a hand to where Dan had blasted him. He then put his bony fingers to his lips and licked them.

"Ahhhhhh! Your taste is the same as the boy! You are of the same spirit, but different times?"

"Bingo! Give the ghoul a Cupie Doll!" Dan said blandly as he moved towards the gray spirit.

"But the boy was of a much sweeter flavor! He was quite frightened in my home! He found me, repulsive." the mirror spirit said with a mock tone of hurt as he hovered above the staircase.

"I never did like creeps, human or ghost." Dan said, his anger growing. He let loose another Ecto Blast, but the mirror ghost flew up and curled around the massive glass chandelier hanging over the center of the

foyer.

"That wasn't very nice, Mr. Phantom! Not nice at all. Little Danny is much nicer than you, but what a frightened child he is!" the mirror ghost said in a teasing tone. "I so wanted the boy to feel at home, I even sent some of my pets to play with him, but he screamed so! But then, the like to suck Ectoplasm from ghosts, why don't you play with them!" the ghost cried out and clapped his hands together.

A dozen small creatures appeared on the floor near Dan's feet. They were hideous things, each looking like a little demon made up of part insect and part reptile. Some crawled on spindly legs, others slithered and hissed, but all bared their razor sharp teeth at the tall ghost.

Dan suddenly realized the fear Danny had felt. He was after all, a boy of fourteen, a ghost child with little experience with the darker realms of the Ghost Zone. A place Dan had been and learned from, but despite his hardness, he could still feel the echo of Danny's screams in his head and it angered him. For no matter what ever transpired between them, Dan Phantom, Danny Phantom and Danny Fenton were connected together.

Forever.

"I've had enough of this!" Dan roared as he let loose his Ghostly Wail. The entire house seemed to shake as the creatures were thrown against the far wall and smashed to bits. The vibrations tore the chandelier from the ceiling and sent it crashing to the floor.

Dan stopped and surveyed the damage. He flew down to the first floor where the Mirror Spirit lay amidst the shattered crystal. It's ghost form was jerking with spasms as it's eyes bugged out of it's head. Suddenly, it stopped and it's ghostly form melted into the floor. Dan kicked the crystal on the floor where the ghost had been moments before.

"Nobody is gonna torture that kid but me. You just learned that the hard way. Too easy, way too easy." Dan said with disappointment in his voice.

Danny hovered above the glass dome, looking down to see the room engulfed in flame. The bolt of blue from his uncle's hand took him off guard and sent him flying to the flat slate roof. He felt a cool wind picking up and the flap of fabric hitting his face when he noticed Vlad Plasmius standing over him, his cape whipping about.

"Cheap shot. Never thought I'd say that to a Fenton!"

"Such a pity to waste your talent protecting the boy." Uriah said as he stood near the edge of the roof. A decorative iron railing on three inches high went around the perimeter of the roof. With the large glass dome in the center, it made for not much room to walk on. A dangerous place to be, unless you were a ghost.

Tucker huddled on the other side of the dome, trying to stay out of the way as Vlad had instructed him.

"It is a shame. We could be unbeatable, the two of us! Ah well, that's what happens when your entire existence depends on Danny Fenton!" Vlad smiled with an upward gesture of his hands.

"Step away from the boy. I want to feast on the fear in his eyes as I destroy him." Uriah commanded.

Vlad looked over his shoulder and down at Danny.

"Daniel, now would be a good time to rise to the occasion and do something spectacular. Your friend Clockwork had tied my hands in this matter. All I can do is help you. The battle is yours, so be a good little solider and take the field." Vlad moved away from Danny.

"You've ruined everything I've planned for, but I will find satisfaction in your downfall!" Uriah growled. "Pervadum!"

A blue bolt came directly towards Danny's chest, but this time he was able to shoot up into the air. Another command from Uriah, this one hit Danny in the left shoulder, causing him to crash onto the cold rooftop as the wind began to pick up.

Danny winced as he put a hand to his sore shoulder. Uriah laughed as he came a few steps closer to Danny.

"Face the truth, you are no match for me, little one. You have far too little experience despite you great powers."

"You're not the first to tell me that, uncle and I'll make sure you're not the last!" Danny raged as he sprung to his feet, his green eyes glowing.

The sight of the boy's anger took Uriah by surprise. The wizard took several steps back as the wind whipped his decorative robes about him. The gem encrusted hem of his outer robe caught the rough edge of the iron railing around the roof perimeter and he lost his footing. His arms flung about wildly as he tried to balance himself, but couldn't. He slipped off the roof only to have Danny fly down and grab his right wrist and hold on tightly.

"I've got you! Let me get you…" He stopped as a sick, twisted smile came to Uriah's face.

"We shall continue this battle on my terms, dear nephew. Adieu for now."

With that, Uriah Fenton pried his hand away from Danny's and dropped the three storied to the ground with a dull thump.

"Nooooooooo!" Danny cried out, as he landed on the roof. "I tried to save him…why?"

"I don't know Daniel, I just don't know." Vlad mutter in equal shock as he stood next to Danny.

"Danny! Look out!" Tucker cried as Vlad and Danny spun around to see the ghostly image of Uriah Fenton hover above them. His features seemed even more twisted than in life. Uriah let loose a blinding blue bolt from his ghostly hand that threw Plasmius to the roof and sprawled against the glass dome, now glowing orange and yellow from the flames below. Two black bands engulfed him, changing him back to Vlad Masters, his normally neatly pulled back hair, disheveled and blowing in the wind.

"If I can do that to him, who is ten times the ghost you are, I can now destroy you and scatter your ghostly dust to the wind, never to reform again. Truly, a lost soul. Good night and goodbye, nephew." Uriah's ghost said with heartless malice as he raised his hands.

Tucker was still huddled behind the dome when he suddenly remembered the Book Of The Ghostmasters. He pulled it out of his backpack and ripped the velvet cover from it. He swallowed his fear at what would happen next and with his right hand, he ripped the wax seal from the book.

The tome flew open, pages flipping in the wind. A golden mist slowly rose and spun around Tucker who was frozen by fear and astonishment. A warm, welcoming voice spoke to his inner mind.

"Welcome Ghostmaster. You have finally arrived to claim your inheritance. Use it wisely and it will serve you well. This power is for the chosen blood and not to be used for selfish gain. Your purpose is to help those ghosts who are lost and need guidance to find their way in the world of spirits. You can be the bridge between the worlds of flesh and spirit. Use this power wisely, Ghostmaster."

"No! It cannot be!" Uriah cried out in shock just as he was about to deliver the deadly blow to Danny.

"I am the Ghostmaster, heed my warning and leave this one alone!" Tucker commanded, but in a voice that was not totally his. Danny looked over as did Vlad and saw Tucker dressed in a suit of soft yellows and gold's, a robe of gold hung over his shoulders as did a billowing cape. In his hands were the open book and a long golden staff. His head was crowned with a turban with a large topaz like stone in the center. He shifted his gaze to Danny. Their eyes locked as Tucker's seemed to bore into Danny's soul.

"Use the Ghost Fire. It is commanded."

"Yes! Daniel, the Ghost Fire! Do it!" Vlad urged as Danny slowly turned and faced Uriah. Deep within him a welling up of anger and hate slowly made it's way to his hands as the green Ghost Fire came to life. The fire echoed in his eyes as the wind blew about making it seem as if his white hair were on fire also.

With a cry of anger, Danny let loose the Ghost Fire directly at Uriah. It caught the ghost dead center in the chest and the fire quickly engulfed him. Uriah cried out in agony as Tucker moved to Danny's side and handed him the Fenton Thermos.

"Death is too kind for this one. Prison is his fate." Tucker voice seemed more of a command. Danny quickly let the fire extinguish from his hands and took the thermos. He snapped the cover off and pushed the activation button. The ghost of Uriah Fenton was quickly sucked in and capped.

Tucker reached out a hand and took the thermos from Danny only to drape the strap over Danny's shoulder.

Danny shuttered at the Ghostmasters touch. He suddenly dropped to his knees, bowing his head against the slate rooftop.

"Daniel?" Vlad asked as he slowly rose to his feet. In his human form he was unaffected by the Ghostmaster.

"I am not worthy of the grace of the Ghostmaster." Danny found himself saying in a small, humble voice. "You have touched me. I am yours to command."

The words crashed into Tucker's mind like a mountain landslide. His eyes enlarged as if he'd just woke from a bad dream.

"No! This isn't right, isn't right….Danny, you're my friend, not my servant…Danny, please?" Tucker asked in his normal voice.

Suddenly, the glass dome exploded as fire shot high in the air. Shards of glass fell about as Vlad shielded his eyes and bent over to protect himself as Danny and Tucker remained quite still, both untouched by the rain of glass.

Tucker made his decision. He slammed the book shut. As he did, his golden vestments faded into dust that flew back between the pages of the closed book. He raised the book above his head.

"Tucker no! The power…" Vlad yelled from the other side of the dome.

"I don't want power that makes a slave of my best friend! You're free Danny! Do you hear me? You're free!" Tucker yelled at the top of his lungs as he threw the book into the fire below.

Danny raised his head, looking dazed for a moment before he slumped down onto the roof and changed back to Danny Fenton. Vlad quickly made his way to Danny and cradled him in his arms, the wind whipping his white and gray hair about madly.

"Daniel, my dear, dear boy! Tonight you took your first step into a much larger world than you could ever imagine! I am so proud of you, my son."

"Don't tell me I missed the big fight? Figures!" Dan's voice came from in back of Vlad as did the distant cry of fire engines and police cars.

"Look, I hate to break up this tender moment, but this whole house is about to cave in. Can you pull it together and get Danny to earth? I'll grab ol' Golden Boy here." Dan reached out and roughly threw Tucker over his shoulder.

"Kinda wish I hadn't thrown the book away quite yet." Tucker said in a small voice as Dan took off into the sky and became invisible. Vlad easily scooped Danny up and changed back to Plasmius and followed Dan into the night sky, unseen by the growing crowd below.

Vlad and Dan landed quietly in back of the house in the garden and were able to hide as the firemen ran about, trying to put the blaze out.

"I think it would be best if we were not seen by the general public." Vlad said to Dan as they set the boys down. Danny was just coming around as Tucker helped him sit down on the ground under a cherry tree.

"Awwww, c'mon Vlad! Have a heart! I haven't scared anyone in ages! Just one little swoop over the crowd for old times sake!" Dan groaned, but knew that Vlad was right. The less they were seen the better for them.

"We will meet you back at the house and hopefully then we can leave this dreary place." Vlad said as he and Dan vanished.

"Whoa, my head is pounding. Can't remember anything after Uncle Uriah fell off the roof…Tucker, you're ok!" Danny smiled as Tucker helped him to his feet. Danny noticed the Fenton Thermos hanging from his shoulder.

"You caught him Danny. Uncle Uriah became a ghost, that's why he let himself fall, so he could destroy you, but you got him."

"Oh great! Now I have to put a relative in the Ghost Zone!" Danny groaned as he and Tucker slowly made their way around the house, firemen rushing about, not even noticing the boys.

A distance from the house, the police had arrived and were keeping back the growing crowd. Danny saw Sam being held tightly by Daniel and his heart felt a squeeze. Jazz came running to the boys and flung herself at them.

"Thank goodness you're both ok! They said someone fell off the roof, I was so worried!" Jazz smothered both the boys in kisses.

"It was Uncle Uriah." Danny said. Jazz stopped her kissy fest and looked at them with wide eyes. "He tripped. I tried to save him…"

"Danny, here comes Kat and Toby. Guess they found Uriah." Tucker said in a low voice as the pair approached the children. Behind them were two men carrying a stretcher with Uriah's body covered by a sheet. They silently walked past and through the path the police made for them and quickly left the scene.

"This never would have happened if you hadn't come here." Toby said in a sad voice, looking directly at Danny.

"Toby, that may not be true…" Kat said, trying to comfort her grieving husband.

"I know he was an evil man, but that side might never have shown itself if you children hadn't come here in the first place!"

"Pop, please…you're not being fair! Danny and his friends saved us!" Daniel defended only to get a dark glare from his father.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what else to say or do…" Danny spoke in a small voice, having the guilt of Uriah's death heaped on him so abruptly.

"You've brought nothing but trouble to me and mine, so leave, Danny. Take your twice cursed self and…" Toby's voice was growing louder and angrier until the cultured tone of Vlad Masters entered the conversation.

"You sir, are being quite unfair to this boy. I was there, I saw the whole thing."

"Who are you."

"I just recently came into Mr. Fenton's employ," Vlad lied as he put his hands on Danny's shoulders. "Daniel Fenton here tried to save your brother's life. He tripped over the ornamental railing on the roof and fell. Young Daniel here reached out to grab him, in fact he had a firm hold and I was about to aid in his rescue when Mr. Fenton pried his hand away from the boy's and fell to his demise. That sir, is the truth, so help me!"

"I saw it too." Tucker added to the lie, since he was where Vlad told him to be on the other side of the roof.

Toby looked shocked and ashamed.

"I'm so sorry Danny. I had no right to speak to you like that. This wasn't your fault, of course. Let's go home." Toby sighed and turned to leave with Kat.

"I think it's time we all went home." Vlad said somberly.

Chapter XIV

Amity Park was quiet in the wee hours of the morning. The sun wouldn't rise for at least another hour, but no one slept at the Fenton Works.

No one was about to observe the ghostly trio sitting on the front stoop of the house. Danny sat one step below Vlad and Dan who had been comparing notes on the past nights events.

"…so, the mirror spirit is gone. Nasty little bugger though. Are you sure you can't remember anything that happened while you were in the mirror?" Dan asked Danny.

"Not a thing. It's like it didn't happen." Danny replied, just staring out into the empty street.

"Well, maybe it's for the best. This one seemed to get a kick out of scaring kids, but then again, who wouldn't?"

"Still, it's a pity about the Ghostmaster book. Some people just don't know what they have until they've lost it. Would you say that is a correct statement, Daniel?"

Danny let a lungful of air out and nodded.

"Oh yeah!" He smiled as he looked over his shoulder at the two ghosts as he changed back to Danny Fenton. "Never thought I'd say this, but thanks guys, really. If you hadn't come I'd still be locked up in that tower and Uncle Uriah would be on his way to world domination."

"Well I have to admit that this has been fun, but it's time for me to escape while the escaping is good." Dan said with an evil smile. He reached down and slipped a hand into Danny's jean pocket and retrieved the Time Watch that Jazz had given back to him.

"Hey! Give that back!" Danny demanded as Dan gracefully flew over his head.

"No way Danny. I earned this free ticket to wherever I want, so I'll be seeing you and believe me when I say that it's not a threat, but a promise." Dan gave a cocky loose salute to Vlad and said,

"Be seein' ya, Pops!" Dan laughed as he pushed the watch stem down and disappeared into a Time Vortex.

"Stop calling me Pops!" Vlad roared.

"Darn it! How stupid am I?" Danny grumbled.

"Let's see…would you like that in chronological or alphabetical order?" Vlad grinned wickedly as Jazz came bounding out of the house happy as a lark.

"Jazz what are you so happy about?" Danny grumbled.

"You'll never believe it! You know how Dad has always been rumbling about Mom's fudge, that it's not as good as his grandma's? Well guess what? Grandma Kat just gave me her recipe! The secret Fenton Fudge recipe is mine!" she laughed with glee and danced about on the empty sidewalk.

"Pity. I always thought Jazz was one hundred percent her mother, oh well that's what happens when you shake up a perfectly good gene pool with inferior Fenton DNA!"

Danny growled and flashed his green eyes.

"If you think that's annoying, at least you're not out back with Sam and Daniel…ooops!" Jazz turned red as Danny jumped to his feet and stalked back into the house, steaming.

Vlad leaned forward with a smile for Jazz.

"My dear, have you ever considered a life of villainy?"

"Well, I guess we'll be leaving soon." Sam said with a shy smile as her and Daniel stood in the small back yard. She had changed back into her modern clothes which made it hard for Daniel to keep from blushing.

"Sam, these past couple of days have been so…so…"

"Yeah, I've had fun too. Except for all the craziness with your uncle, and I'm really sorry about that."

"Danny's taking his ghost back with him. What good will that do?" Daniel asked, taking Sam's hand in his.

"Danny's dad has built a special deposit box that marks those ghosts so they can't come back through the portal. It's best that way."

Daniel tuned away for a moment, took a deep breath and turned back to Sam. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a small heart shaped charm. It was white enamel with a green oval stone in the center. Daniel put it around Sam's neck and admired it as it hung from the gold chain.

"Daniel, this is beautiful!"

"It's called First Love. I uh, got it off a charm necklace of Ma's. She won't miss it! The white symbolizes the snow and the green stone is the new grass of spring. Love is eternal….Sam, I love you."

The affirmation hung in the air like the morning dew.

"Sam, don't leave. Stay here with me. Sam, I love you so much I don't think I could live without you." Daniel said quietly.

"Daniel, I'm flattered! I really am, but this is not my time…"

"We can make it our time! Oh Sam, with you I feel like I can do anything! Even kiss you."

Daniel took her into his arms and kissed her lips as Danny banged his way out the back door. He looked like he would explode when he saw the two kissing.

"Ok! That's enough of that! C'mon Sam, the bus is leaving!" Danny ordered as he went down the stairs and grabbed Sam by the arm.

Out the back door watching the scene, Toby, Kat, Vlad, Tucker and Sam.

"This is better than the Movie of the Week on television." Vlad grinned, only to get puzzled looks form Toby and Kat.

"I'm sorry Danny, but Sam has decided to stay here with me! We love each other and will not be parted by time!" Daniel said over dramatically.

"Makes me wish I had some popcorn and soda! My little brother, the jealous heavy…who knew?"

"This is just so wrong!" Tucker groaned, shaking his head.

"Never thought I'd live to see the day that boy of ours would have the nerve to ask a girl out, let alone fight for one!" Toby beamed proudly.

"Now get this straight, dude. Sam is going back with me and that's final. Who knows how the time stream would be altered if she stayed." Danny said firmly, pulling Sam towards her with one arm.

"I don't care about that! I love her and she loves me! She's staying and we're gonna get married…well at least after I graduate high school."

"College first young man!" Kat yelled out.

"Alright then, college, then we get married!" Daniel pulled at Sam on her other arm.

"Ooooh! Maybe someone should make a wish before she snaps in two!" Vlad grinned wickedly.

"Stop it! Both of you!" Sam roared. Both boys let go of her arms as he turned on both of them.

"Danny Fenton! Who do you think you are, ordering me around? You take a lot for granted, just because you're half ghost!"

Daniel gave Danny a sneer.

"And you!" she exclaimed turning on Daniel. "Who do you think you are? Planning my life for me!" she took a deep breath and calmed down before she continued. "Daniel, I'm so flattered, but this is not my time, I have to go back…"

"With me!" Danny said triumphantly.

"If for no other reason than to keep his ego in check." Sam smiled as she gave Daniel a kiss on the cheek. Danny smiled, expecting a kiss too but only felt Sam's hand roughly grab him by the ear and drag him along.

"Owwwww! Sam, that hurts!"

"Just think Danny, if I decided to stay I would be your Great Grandmother!" Sam told him.

"Time Out!"

Everyone froze as the Hands of Time spun wildly and came to a stop. They vanished to reveal Clockwork in his adult form. He viewed the sight and shook his head as he reached beneath his cloak and pulled out one of his Time Medallions and slipped it over Danny's head. The sudden jolt back into the Time Stream caught Danny off balance. Clockwork steadied the boy and dislodged his ear from Sam's vice like grip.

"Danny, it seems every time I drop in on you, you're in some sort of peril. Is your life always this complicated?"

"Not really. I just won and argument, but lost the war." he grinned sheepishly. Clockwork merely rolled his eyes and sighed as he transformed into his old self.

"I think it's time for you all to go home. That's why I'm here."

"But the Time Watch…oh, uh…it seems Dan stole it. I'm really sorry! I tried…" Danny stammered, only to stop when Clockwork put up his free hand.

"Danny, I know all about that. It was suppose to happen that way."

"But he's got your watch…he can go…"

"Where I want him to go and no further. Really Danny, you should try and have more faith in me and my abilities." Clockwork reprimanded gently.

Danny hung his head.

"I'm sorry. I guess I've had to fight by myself for so long…"

"You've never been alone. You've had Sam and Tucker and now your sister to help you. Never think you are alone. I will also be there, maybe not in the thick of battle, but always about, keeping an eye on you."

"So, did I pass this test you sent me on?" Danny wondered.

Clockwork leaned on his staff and nodded with an old wise smile.

"Yes Danny, you did. So, tell me, what have you learned from this trip?"

"Never trust your relatives?"

Clockwork transformed into the child, giving him a pained look.

"Well, I need a lot more training."

"Yes. We knew that already. But what is the ultimate lesson?"

Danny pondered a few moments, then looked around at the frozen people about him. He smiled as he looked up to Clockwork.

"That I am the sum of everything around me. Everyone who touches me makes me who I am. I'm not just Danny Fenton, Jack and Maddie Fenton's son, but I'm Tucker's best friend, Jazz's brother and Sam's…friend."

"Very good Danny, very good indeed!"

"I'm also touched by the evil about me," Danny said looking at Vlad Plasmius. "That also makes me who I am. It makes me want to be a better person, no matter the risk."

"Excellent!" Clockwork smiled as he transformed into the adult. "You must never be ashamed of the darkness in your family. Sometimes it's good to drag those skeletons out of the closet, remember that when you work on your school report. Well, I suppose we had better get you back home. Your parents are due back shortly. Do you have my travel bag?"

"Yeah, it's in the house, I'll go…" Danny started to run toward the back door when he stopped dead in his tracks and thumped himself on the forehead with the heel of his hand. "Duh, ghost powers!" He changed to Danny Phantom and flew through the outside wall of the house.

"A good boy, but still a bit dense." Clockwork sighed as Danny quickly returned with the bag and put the bag down next to the ghost as he changed again changed to his older self.

"Don't we all need to be standing together?" Danny asked. Clockwork patted him on the head.

"I really should have you over sometime for some study time into the mechanics and theories of Time and Space. I think it will aid you in the future." Clockwork said as he hit his staff at the top stem and announced,

"Time In!"

The Time Vortex swirled and sucked Danny and his travel companions and Plasmius into it leaving Toby, Kat and Daniel in their own time.

The Time Vortex came to life in the lab of the present day Fenton Works and left them all there a bit stunned.

"Where's Clockwork?" Danny wondered.

"Danny, Jazz we're home, where are you?"

"Great! Mom and Dad are home! They don't like us in the lab alone!" Jazz panicked.

"Well, I guess I will bid you children a fond farewell for now. Not that I wouldn't love to see your dear mother, but that oaf of a father of yours does drag me down. Ta!" Vlad grinned as he jumped up and flew through the open portal.

"Danny? Uh you'd better change, you're folks are on their way down here!" Tucker called out from the base of the stairs.

Danny quickly changed back to Danny Fenton only to notice how filthy his clothes and Tuckers were from the rooftop battle.

"What are you all doing down here? Danny! How did you get so dirty and what are you doing with a Fenton Thermos over your shoulder?" Maddie demanded.

"You kids smell like you've been to a barbeque. Wish you had told me you were going to one." Jack said with remorse.

"There was a fire. Yeah down here in the lab and Danny and Tucker were able to put it out!" Sam said quickly.

"What could have caught on fire…Jack, did you forget to turn off those Bunsen Burners again? This could have been serious! You boys aren't hurt are you?" Maddie said looking Tucker and Danny over carefully.

"We're fine, Mrs. Fenton, fact is Sam and I gotta go." Tucker smiled as he grabbed Sam by the hand and pulled her up the stairs.

"Well, go on upstairs and clean up, dinner will be ready in a bit." Maddie smiled as she and Jack went up the stairs.

"Whew! Never knew Sam had such a cool head! You'd better dump old Uncle Not So Fun into the containment field." Jazz said. Before she turned to leave, she planted a kiss on Danny's forehead. "Thanks Danny. It was incredible. Scary but incredible. I can't wait to tell Mom and Dad about the fudge recipe Grandma Kat gave me!"

"Uh, Jazz? How are you gonna explain you have it?" Danny smiled as he went over to the special containment box and put the thermos in the receiving tube.

"Oh…didn't think of that." she said as Danny hit the on switch. The panel came to life with several red and green button blinking as the captured ghost was sucked into the box and processed. When finished, Danny shut the panel off and went upstairs with Jazz.

"I think I have a way, just leave it to me."

"You kids are awful quiet tonight. Is there anything wrong?" Maddie asked at the kitchen table. After cleaning up and having a chance to sit down, both Jazz and Danny realized for the first time how tired they were.

"It's just this history assignment I have. Mom, Dad, do you think it would be ok if I went to spend the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Fenton out at the farm? Grandpa's got lots of family stuff out there and I really feel like spending some time with them." Danny asked.

Jack looked at Danny with surprise.

"I'm sure they'd love to have you. We're way overdue for a visit, but your mother and I have a conference to attend this weekend…I'll call them after dinner and ask. How about you, Jazzy Pants?" Jack asked with a big grin.

"I got a big Calculus test on Monday, so I'll pass. I think the alone time will do Danny good. Bonding with cross generations builds better bridges to our understanding."

Jack looked at Jazz as if she had just spoken French.

"I don't know what you just said, Jazzerincess, but I think it was no."

"Yes Dad. I think Danny could use the trip alone. A nice relaxing bus trip to the country would do him a world of good, you know how edgy he can get."

Danny gave his sister a long, tired look.

Chapter XV

Danny sat at the downtown bus terminal the next morning waiting for the bus he would be taking to his grandparents. Maddie had called and they were elated that Danny wanted to visit, so much so that they begged for him to be able to come the next day. It was only a three hour trip, but Maddie caved in, since his going there was part of his school project.

Danny had called Tucker to let him know he wouldn't be at school the next day and Tucker insisted he come to the bus station with him before heading off to school.

"Man, I really just wanted to talk to you about all this Ghostmaster stuff." Tucker said as they sat together in the nearly empty terminal watching Danny's parents leave the terminal after saying a long goodbye to him.

"I know. It's just so…weird. I remember when you touched me, I was terrified!" Danny recalled with a faraway look.

"Why?"

"I don't know. I've never felt anything that powerful outside of me or Vlad Plasmius. What do you remember?"

Tucker leaned forward and took his glasses off to rub his eyes. He was still exhausted from his ordeal and six thirty came way to early for his liking.

"There was this voice. Sounded like a woman, she was so calm and welcoming. She said the Ghostmaster is here to serve the ghosts he comes in contact with. Kinda help them along to their next stop in life. I can't remember the exact words, but she did say the power was not to be used for personal gain or evil."

"Then what are you worried about? You're about the least evil person I know!" Danny asked as Tucker leaned back in his chair and put his glasses back on.

"I don't know dude. Maybe all this ghost stuff is ok with you, but I for one am glad I threw that book into the fire. I don't think I'll ever be ready for a time when you're on your knees to me."

The PA system came alive with the announcement of Danny's bus departure. Danny slung his bag over his shoulder and walked to the gate with Tucker.

"I think it was just the shock of that much power touching me, that's all. I hardly think they'll be any time that I'll be on my knees to anyone, much less you, you weiner!" Danny joked as he stood in front of the bus before he got on.

As Danny turned to get on the bus, Tucker reached out and touched him on the shoulder.

"Hey, thanks for saving my butt back there."

"Same here, pal. I'll call ya Sunday when I get back and let you know what I found. Hey, if you get stuck on your report, just write down that you come from a long line of Ghostmasters!" Danny grinned as he got on the bus. He grabbed a seat near the front and slid the window open.

"Oh, ha ha ha! Put that on a report and I'll be the one spending an all expense paid vacation at Wren Cliff Sanitarium for the Mentally Ill!" Tucker sneered as the bus slowly pulled out.

"Hey! I stayed there! Ask for the apple crisp, it's great!" Danny hollered as he poked his head back inside the bus.

The bus trip was uneventful. Danny had the seat next to him empty so he could curl up and take a much needed nap. It seemed as if he had just nodded off when the bus driver announced his destination.

Danny pulled himself up and looked out the window at the quaint country store and gas station that did extra duty as a bus station. He got up and made his way off the bus as a large man with silver gray hair rushed up to him and swooped him into his arms and with a booming voice announced,

"Danny! It's so good to see you! How's my favorite grandson?"

"Uh, Grandpa? I'm your only grandson."

"And that's why you're my favorite!" the big man said, almost squeezing the air out of Danny's lungs.

Peter Fenton was almost identical to his son, Jack. A large but happy man who was also an inventor. He had taken over the Fenton Work from his father, Daniel Fenton and his father Tobias who had started the whole thing up at the turn of the last century.

"Well, what are we standing here for? Let's get back to the farm, your Grandma's planning a nice big lunch for us and by the looks of you, you could use it!" Jack said swinging his grandson back to the ground.

"You sure you guys don't mind me inviting myself out here?" Danny asked as they got into the old red Ford pickup.

Peter looked at his grandson with amazement.

"Danny! You and your sister are welcome anytime! I only wish the whole family could have come."

"Well, Dad wanted to, but they had to go out of town and Mom remembered the last time you two started working together, you nearly blew the lab up!" Danny remembered with a smile that Thanksgiving the year before.

"Good times, good times!" Peter fondly smiled as he backed the truck up and headed down the country road.

When they pulled in front of the white clapboard house, Peter laid on the horn and the chickens scurried off into several directions. A woman with white hair in her mid-sixties came to the door, wiping her hands with a dish towel.

"Hey Ma! Look what I found down at Zeb's Market!" Peter said as Danny got out of the truck.

"Danny! Oh my sweet little boy!" Amanda Fenton nearly burst out into tears as she held Danny tightly to her.

"Grandma, you're crushing me!" Danny protested, but to no avail.

"Oh, let me look at you! Gracious sakes, you're a sight! Doesn't that mother of yours feed you?" she said in shock at how thin Danny was.

"Mom's a great cook. I guess I just burn it off." Danny smiled.

"Well, if I don't put ten pounds on you this weekend then you'll have to come back next weekend and every other weekend until I do! You're such a scrawny thing! But then again, you were a very small baby. Not like the Fenton men at all! Must take after your mother…" Amanda went on as they all went into the house.

Two hours after lunch and Danny was already dreading dinner.

Amanda Fenton put on a lunch worth of a holiday! She had piled Danny's plate so high he was afraid he'd miss the bus back to Amity Park on Sunday.

Somehow he managed to stuff it all down, and survive! All the while his grandparents commenting on how small he was and how he needed to build himself up.

Danny was out in the barn with his grandfather as he tinkered on a new gadget he was working on.

"Grandpa, why did you and Grandma move all the way out here? Why not stay in Amity Park?"

"Well, your parents hadn't been married more than a year and we felt giving them the Fenton Works would be a great place to raise a family. Never knew your dad to be the ghost hunting type." Peter said as he worked on attaching a small handle to the piece.

Danny hopped up on the bench next to him and watched him work. The man's large hands hardly seemed able to do such precision work, but Peter was adept at this kind of thing.

"I heard something about another Fenton Portal, back years ago. I think it was Tobias Fenton who built it." Danny said in an off handed manner.

Peter looked up from his work with a raised eyebrow.

"Did you now? Well, I for one have never held any stock in that story. If anyone would have known it would have been my father, Daniel Fenton and he never mentioned any ghost portal to me, ever. It's just a family story. I know you dad has one, what good it does is beyond me, but every man needs his toy and I guess that's his."

"Would it be ok if I snoop around in the attic? Grandma says there's lots of stuff up there. Maybe I can even find something about Uriah Fenton."

Peter gave his grandson a sharp glance.

"It's best you don't open that grave Danny. It's long been closed and best stay that way."

"Why?" Danny asked, knowing full well why.

"Trust me son. Every family has it's secrets. Skeletons in the closet. We Fentons do too, so just leave Uriah rest in peace and look to his brother Tobias, he's the founder of Fenton Works and a worthy subject for your paper." Peter patted Danny on the head. Danny rolled his eyes and hopped off the bench and headed back towards the house.

Danny spent the rest of the afternoon rummaging around the attic. His intent was finding something, anything that proved the 1918 Fenton Portal existed. As the hours dragged on, he was beginning to think the entire event had only been a bad dream. It seemed to him that his family were going to a lot of trouble to hide information from him. There had to be an answer in that dusty attic.

As he rambled about, he sneezed and bumped into a wall panel that popped open. Picking up the flashlight he'd brought with him, he knelt down and peered inside.

It was a very small space that held just one old hat box. Danny groaned as he pulled it out into the light. He must have looked through twenty or more of the things and found nothing.

Upon removing the lid, he let out as gasp.

Inside was a cloth bound book. The title was embossed with gold ink.

Uriah Fenton, A Legacy of Madness by Daniel Fenton

Danny couldn't believe his eyes! His Great Grandfather had written a book about his uncle! But why did no one in the family know, or tell him about it?

Inside the box were numerous newspaper clippings, mostly about the fire that destroyed the house that night he'd battled his Great Uncle Uriah.

Danny opened the book and flipped the pages until he came to the dedication:

With All My Love To SM, I Will Never Forget

"Why that lousy…I can't believe he did this!" Danny felt his blood boiling again as it had in that epic tug of war between him and his Great Grandfather over Sam.

Danny quickly gathered up the remaining items in the box and took them downstairs with the other items he's located.

"But why didn't anyone tell me about this?" Danny asked over supper as he held up the book he'd found.

"Where did you find Dad's book?" Peter asked in utter surprise.

"Behind a panel in the wall in the attic. Grandpa, what is going on here? What's so bad about Uriah Fenton that there's such a cover up!" Danny demanded.

"Peter, this isn't Watergate. It's family history and he has a right to know the whole story." Amanda said quietly. Peter Fenton put down his fork and pointed to the book.

"Danny, my father wrote that book to expose his uncle for the evil monster he was. The book never sold, fact is as far as I know this is the only remaining copy."

"What did he do that was so awful?" Danny asked, as if he didn't know first hand.

"Read the book. Find out first hand. Then you'll know why we Fentons don't speak his name…ever." Peter said somberly with a touch of sadness knowing that the book would shatter Danny's illusions of his family's untarnished image.

Danny sat up most the night and read the whole book. It wasn't a long book, but very detailed. He was surprised that Daniel wrote such a book. It was well thought out and very readable.

He exposed the fact that his uncle was an unscrupulous businessman who profited from others misery. What shocked Danny most was that Daniel spoke of the black magic and witchcraft his uncle practiced!

"My uncle was a master of the Black Arts and used his powers to enslave spirits who came to close to his home on the hill." Danny read that line aloud and it sent a cold chill through his entire being. How well he knew that fact.

When he finally closed the book sometime after one in the morning, he fell into a fitful sleep, reliving the horrors of his trip back in time.

The rest of the weekend consisted of going over details with grandpa and eating way too much! He enjoyed shucking peas with grandma, but the cooing fest she put on for her lady friends when they came to call was almost more than a boy could stand! He didn't know what was worse, the pinched cheeks or the pats on the head with the obligatory, "What a sweet little fellow he is!" or "Such a precious angel! He's almost too perfect to live!"

Now that, Danny decided, was just too morbid!

Sunday came quickly and Danny was loaded down with his research materials. Peter had decided to let Danny keep the book.

"I know you'll take good care of it."

"I will. I promise to come back real soon. I had a great time!" Danny smiled as he got ready to board the bus back to Amity Park.

"Danny! I can't ever thank you enough for finding Grandma Kat's fudge recipe! I swear, I looked everywhere! You certainly have a way about you to find lost items, almost spooky." Amanda remarked as she handed him a large bowl filled with the special fudge and cookies.

"Don't eat it all on the way home now!" Peter laughed as he hugged Danny.

"Believe me, I don't think I can eat for a week after being here!" Danny smiled as he got on the bus. He waved to his grandparents as the bus pulled away from the gas station.

"Mandy, do you think it was right of me to let Danny take that book?" Peter asked watching the bus disappear down the road.

"He's a Fenton. He has a right to know the good with the bad." she sighed. "But why he kept on sputtering about the SM in the dedication, I'll never understand."

Chapter XVI

Danny followed his mom into the house after the ride from the bus station late Sunday afternoon.

"So, you got all the information you needed! That's wonderful sweetie and…"

"Danny! You're home! How's life on the farm?" Jack boomed as he entered the living room.

"I had a great time! Oh, grandma sent this back," he smiled handing the bowl of cookies and fudge to his father. "Seems I had a winning streak going and found Great Grandma Kat's fudge recipe as well as the info on my report."

Jack's eyes widened as he tore the lid off the bowl and popped a piece of the dark fudge into his mouth. The groans he uttered nearly scared Danny to death until he saw his dad smile.

"Oh baby! This is it! The same fudge I had back when my grandma use to make it! If they had a Noble Prize for Food, this would win!"

Maddie helped herself to a piece and agreed.

"Jack, this is amazing!"

Jazz strolled by with her nose in a book, only looking up to give Danny a smile.

"You got the fudge recipe to grandma?"

"Yup."

"Great. Oh, a package came for you over the weekend, it's on the kitchen table." Jazz said as she headed upstairs.

Danny left his parents in the throws of fudge delight and went to the kitchen. On the table was a mailing tube addressed to him with a return address that merely said, CLOCKWORK MANUFACTURING LTD.

Danny pooped the plastic cap off one end and pulled out a rolled tube of what looked like blueprint papers. Rolling them out, he recognized them as the original blueprints for the Fenton Portal that Toby had built. His signature and the year 1918 were in the corner of each sheet. A parchment sheet fell to the floor as he flipped through the drawings. He scooped it up and read it:

Danny:

I thought these might help you in your research report for school. Also they are a lost family treasure I'm sure you would like to share with your father.

I am very pleased with the lessons you have learned on your recent journey. You are an amazing child with an even more amazing future, but beware of the darkness that craves to bind you to itself.

Know that I will be watching and will from time to time drop in to check up on you, and perhaps teach you a little something of time and space, things every good ghost should know.

I remain your friend in Time

Clockwork

Danny felt a warmth run over him like a soothing shower. Finally, he had a friend, an ally in his ghostly life! And not just any ghost, but The Master of Time!

He quickly gathered up the blueprints, but carefully rolled the letter up and put it in the tube and took them out to show his father.

"Dad! Look what came in the mail! The actual blueprints for the original Fenton Portal!" Danny said with excitement as he carefully put the mailing tube next to his bag on the floor.

Jack grabbed the prints and examined them carefully, his dark blue eyes filled with amazement.

"Danny, where on Earth did you get these? This is proof that Grandpa Tobias did have a portal, or at least the plans for one! Everyone always said this was a myth!"

"Oh, I did some digging and found a company that collects old prints like that and the man was very nice about it. He didn't charge me for them since he's a big Fenton fan!" Danny grinned through his half truth.

"This is wonderful!"

"They're for you, Dad. I want you to have them." Danny said with a serious tone as he looked up into his father's face. "Everyone says you're crazy, well if this is crazy then count me in too!" Danny pointed to the blueprints.

Jack's lower lip quivered as he put down the blueprints and swung his tiny son into his arms for a crushing bear hug.

"Danny, you've made me very happy and you make me very proud,

son."

"Thanks…Dad!" Danny gasped, waving to his mother to intercede on his behalf.

"Jack, put Danny down before you crush him! He probably got more of that than he needed at the farm." Maddie said warmly. Jack put his son down, but gave him one quick hug and whispered in his ear,

"Thank you Danny. You've made me very happy."

Danny smiled as he picked up his bag and the tube and headed up to his room. He put the bag down and removed the note from the tube and re-read it.

"Thanks Clockwork, for everything."

"Thank you for that informative, if a bit drawn out oration on your Great Grandmother, Paulina." Mrs. Henderson, the Freshman History teacher sighed, trying to stifle a yawn of boredom.

Paulina gilded back to her seat, with the eyes of every boy in the class on her, especially Danny Fentons.

Sam took note of that and turned to Danny who sat across from her and smiled as she fingered the white enamel heart Daniel had given her.

"Danny Fenton will be next." Mrs. Henderson announced as Danny slowly rose, giving Sam a low growl and went to the front of the room.

"Surprised they let you out of the nut house after your weekend visit, Fenteroni!" Dash said loudly.

"Dash, that will be enough of that! Go on Danny." Mrs. Henderson smiled.

"There are a lot of great people in my family. Most of them inventors, from my dad, Jack Fenton back to my Great Great Grandfather Tobias Fenton who started the Fenton Works back in 1904, but there is someone else I'd like to talk about. Someone my family is not very proud of and never speaks of, my Great Grand Uncle Uriah Fenton…" Danny lowered his voice.

"….so after Uriah's death, Tobias Fenton inherited his estate. He closed the sweatshop and paid everyone six months salary which was unheard of in those days. A lot of those people were able to open their own businesses with that money and many are still here today, making up the fabric of Amity Park. That's all I have."

"What an amazing topic Danny! Not many people would have the courage to speak of someone as dark as your Grand Uncle Uriah. I am a member of the Amity Park Historical Society and I do know of him, but you seemed to speak of him as if you actually met him. Very well done!" Mrs. Henderson smiled as Danny returned to his seat.

"If she only knew…" Tucker said quietly, only to have Sam kick him in the shin. Danny gave her a smile, then a quick scowl as he noticed the charm Daniel had given her around her neck.

"Dash Baxter?"

"Huh?"

"Dash, you're next." Mrs. Henderson said as Danny and Tucker rolled their eyes. Sam caught that look.

"What did you two do?"

"Watch and see!" Tucker grinned mischievously.

"Unlike Fentonzi, I have a real hero in my family…"

"Dash!" Mrs. Henderson warned.

Dash took a deep breath and pushed a VHS tape into the player in back of the desk.

"My uncle, Gary Baxter made the first round cut for the Green Bay Packers back in 1973..."

Everyone in the room was laughing!

"He graduated…"

The laughter got louder and more raucous. Dash turned to the TV and found the recorder playing, but instead of football footage of his uncle, it was showing clips taken at the Primate Exhibit at the Amity Park Zoo!

"What the…"

"Dash, if this is some kind of joke…." Mrs. Henderson warned as the bell for the end of the day rang. "We will continue tomorrow and maybe by then Dash, you can come up with the proper viewing material!"

"But, but, but….Fen-ton!" Dash yelled as he saw Danny and Tucker run from the classroom, still laughing along with everyone else in the room.

Dash ran out of the room, but there was no sign of Danny.

"When I get my hands on that little punk, I'll…."

"You'll be wishing you'd given half as good a presentation as Mr. Fenton, Mr. Baxter." came the warning voice of Mr. Lancer who had been sitting in the back of the room during the class. "Maybe you should think about your ancestors during detention, and I don't mean the ones on your tape!"

"Oh man! I got football…" Dash groaned as Mr. Lancer gave him a shove down the hall.

"I'm sure coach can live without you for one day, now march!"

When they rounded the corner, Danny re-appeared with Tucker at his side.

"Man, that was sweet! Did you see the look on his face! Priceless!" Tucker grinned.

"You're gonna pay for that, you know." Sam said coming out of the girls room.

"It was worth it! Now that's what I call comedy!" Danny chuckled.

Sam gave the boys a very dower look.

"Aw, common Sam! It was the best! You were even laughing!" Tucker teased as she smiled.

"Yeah it was funny! Something about marching band music and monkeys always leaves them in the aisles!" Sam said lightly as the three friends walked down the hall together. They walked past a group of teachers with Mr. Lancer in the center of the group. He watched the trio like a hawk until they rounded a corner.

"I don't care what it takes, but I'm going to get Danny Fenton through High School if it kills me!"

Ms. Tetzlaff gave Lancer a long hard look and said in her deep voice,

"It probably will Lancer, judging by the shape your in!"

Chapter XVII

It was nearly midnight as the moonlight floated through the tall windows of Danny's bedroom. He slept peacefully as the Hands of Time spun in the center of his room in a blue whirl and stopped to reveal Clockwork. With him floated another ghost.

He was an elderly fellow with a face like an elf. His silver blue hair flowed over his shoulders and halfway down the back of his crystal studded cape that enveloped him.

"So, this is the boy you told me of?" he asked in a warm voice.

"Yes, this is Danny Fenton, also known as Danny Phantom."

"The Ghost Child! I've heard of him."

Danny sighed in his sleep and suddenly shivered as a blue mist escaped from his lips.

"Ghost Sense! I'm impressed." the elder ghost said as Danny stirred and slowly sat up. He blinked his eyes, trying to focus.

"What the…who's there?" he yawned. The older ghost reached into a satchel he wore on his belt and took out a pinch of glimmering gold and silver dust. With a quick snap of the wrist, the dust flew over Danny, making the boy slump back down into his bed and into a deep sleep.

"I have to say, Sandman, you still haven't lost your touch." Clockwork said with admiration as he changed into his child form.

"It's a fact that most teenagers just don't get enough sleep. I've been working on that problem for centuries now. So tell me Clockwork, why are we here?"

Clockwork turned to the window as a glowing red orb the size of a golf ball floated in the room and headed towards Danny. He reached out and snatched the ball.

"This is why I've asked you to come, my old friend. Danny has a powerful enemy, Vlad Masters who is also Vlad Plasmius."

"Ah! I've heard of him, a very evil fellow if my information is correct." Sandman acknowledged.

"Yes," Clockwork affirmed, changing into his adult form. "He has been plaguing young Danny here from time to time with these Dream Disruptors. I would like you to re-program this one." Clockwork said with a wicked smile that crept along his face. He handed the orb to Sandman and took out a small purple chip from inside his cloak. "I have scripted a dream of my own for Masters, something that will give him not only a bad dream but something to ponder on. He took something he shouldn't have when he was back in time."

"Then take it back!" Sandman said with a bit of alarm.

"No, no I won't. I will let the fool keep it. He enjoys playing with fire, much like a child who is fascinated by a flame, he will eventually burn himself, and perhaps learn from his mistakes. For now, I want this Dream Disruptor of his to pay him a call." Clockwork said in a quite, but warning voice.

Sandman nodded.

"I can do it." With that said, he floated over to Danny's desk and sat down, flicking the light on with a snap of his fingers. He place the red orb on the desk, holding it down as he pushed down on it. Under his hand, he felt the orb snap in two. Lifting his hand he found the micro workings of the orb.

"Most fascinating! He must have had help from the Ghost Zone, this technology is far too advanced for mortal men."

"Probably Skulker if I've done my homework." Clockwork said as he glided over to the desk and watched.

Sandman took a roll of silver fabric from deep within his cloak and opened it to reveal several surgical like tools. He took fine wire tweezers and carefully removed a small black chip in the center of the orb, similar to the one Clockwork gave him. He then replaced it with the one Clockwork gave him and made a few other adjustments with his tools. He then closed the orb shut and it began to glow again.

"There! Ready for return flight to it's owner. I can only imagine what kind of dream you planted for our friend." Sandman said, handing the orb back to Clockwork, who studied it for a moment. He then let it go and watched it float out the window back where it came from.

"He's very curious about Danny's future. I've decided to give him a peek at that future." Clockwork said with a smile as he transformed into his old self.

Vlad Masters slept soundly in the hollow quiet of his castle, unaware of the return of his Plasmius Dream Disruptor as it glided into the room and hovered over it's creator for a brief moment before silently bursting into tiny fragments of glimmering red that melted into Vlad's head and deep in his mind, thus beginning his voyage into Clockwork's planted dream.

He found himself sitting in the corner of a spacious office. Everything was bright and glimmering. The tall windows looked out onto a sunny day with clean streets and ornately decorated buildings.

He had no idea where he was.

"If you're thinking of escaping, Plasmius, think again. No one escapes under the watch of General Skulker, Commander of the First Army of the Ghost Zone!" Skulker's booming voice came from behind. Vlad turned slightly in the chair to see Skulker in a shining combat uniform standing over him.

"You fool! What is going on here? Where am I?" Plasmius demanded as he tried to move his hands, only to find a pair of glowing Ecto Cuffs on his wrists.

"We've been searching for you for quite some time. The King has ordered you be brought to him as soon as you were captured. He would like to have a few words with you, enemy of the people!"

Suddenly Vlad's mind snapped to life.

The Ghost Zone War. He had lead many of the powerful ghosts like Skulker in a battle to take over the Ghost Zone. But how long ago had that happened? There was something missing in his memory…

Danny.

He was about to say something when a loud applause and cheers were heard from outside.

"Ah, the King and Queen have returned from the Opening of the Ghost Zone Congress." Skulker said with pleasure. A few minutes later and the large ornate double doors to the office were opened and a young man in his mid thirties strode in followed by several others.

He was average height and very thin. He wore a military style suit of white with black trim and black boots. A dark black robe of velvet hung from his thin shoulders with a large white ribbon off one shoulder with several small glimmering metals. Upon his head of thick white hair was a spectacular crown of crystallized diamonds that seemed to be woven like a fine lace.

"I am so glad that is over! I need to get out of this costume!" the young man sighed.

Vlad knew the voice.

"Daniel?" Vlad's voice said in amazement. Skulker slapped a large plated hand over his mouth and said in a low harsh voice,

"You will speak only when spoken too, traitor!"

"Danny, the photographer for The Ghost Zone Gazette is here, they want that picture of the baby for tomorrow's issue."

Danny rolled his green eyes upward.

"Alright Sam, one picture and then I do have to get back to work." He smiled as he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Sam was wearing a sparkling ball gown of white and silver with a similar crown to Danny's but smaller. Her long dark hair was piled up on her head and her violet eyes sparkled as she looked at her husband. A nurse entered the room, carrying a warmly wrapped bundle and handed it to Sam and curtsied to her.

"Awwww! How's my little boy today? You look just like your Daddy! Yes you do!" she cooed. Danny peered down at the infant ghost as it giggled.

"I think he looks like you, he's got your eyes." Danny smiled as the baby grabbed his finger.

"But he's got your hair and your nose."

A short ghost with a camera floated in and bowed to the couple.

"Your Majesty? One quick photo of the happy family and the new baby? Everyone is clamoring to see the latest addition to the Royal Family!"

"Alright Sparky, just one please? I've got a lot to do this afternoon." Danny sighed, but with a smile as he stood close to Sam and they held the baby up. The little ghost baby just cooed and giggled as the flash went off.

"I'll take him up to the nursery. See you later?" Sam smiled as she took the baby in her arms.

"Do we have an appointment?" Danny grinned, only to get a mock scowl from Sam as she left the room along with the photographer.

"Where the heck is Tucker? Tucker!" Danny hollered as he removed the heavy crown from his head and shrugged off the robe.

"Sheesh! Keep your Ectoplasm on dude, I'm coming!" Tucker's still trill voice called from the next room as he hurried in with a small laptop compute tucked under his arm. Many of the ghosts in the room were shocked at how Tucker addressed the King.

"He's been my best friend forever, plus having a Ghostmaster who doubles as your Chief of Staff does have it's advantages." Danny merely smiled. "What's on the burner for the rest of the day, Tuck?"

Tucker flipped open the computer and pressed a few buttons.

"Got the meeting with the Zoborian Ambassador, meeting on the trade agreement with the Keltan Region, and the biggie, a private meeting with your friend and mine, Vlad Plasmius. I penciled him in between lunch and the Zoborian Ambassador, figured you wanted to get that piece of business done and over with." Tucker said with a smile.

Danny looked around and saw Plasmius for the first time since he entered the room. He showed no emotion.

"Alright then, everyone out! I want absolute privacy!" Danny commanded as the ghosts all reluctantly left the room, except Skulker.

"You too, Skulker." Danny added.

"I refuse to leave you unprotected! This is the most dangerous being in the Ghost Zone and…"

Skulker was cut off by the doors of the office flying open and a young girl looking much like Sam at age 14 storming into the office.

"Daddy! Mom just told me I can't go to Ember's Farewell Concert with my friends tonight! That I have to go with a Court Escort!"

Danny pointed to Vlad,

"Be with you in a minute, Plasmius. Family crisis time." He turned back to the girl and folded his arms over his chest, trying to look imposing.

"Lillith, if your mother said no than I am in no way going against her wishes."

"But Daddy! Everyone is going and we got a prime spot in the Pit! That's where all the action is!" the girl whined.

"And that's why you are going to sit in the Royal Box. Sweetie, your mom and I can't let you go running around without a proper escort. There are people out there who want to hurt me and the best way to do that is to hurt my family."

"Daddy!"

"I've made up my mind. You sit in the Royal Box. Believe me, this is hardly Ember's last show. How many of these "Farewell" concerts has she done now, Tuck?"

"Uh, last count..37."

"See! I've even got an escort for you. Someone I know I can trust to keep you safe." Danny grinned as he pointed to the doors and in came Technius dressed in a very colorful and flamboyant outfit.

"It is I, Technius! Ready to rock your world, little girl!"

"Oh no! Not him!" Lillith groaned, on the verge of tears.

Danny grinned with comic wickedness.

"Oh yes him! It's either go with a staff member or don't go at all. Your choice."

"Oh…I guess I can put up with Mr. Electric for one night!" Lillith sighed.

"Great! On the way there I can tell you all about the great fights I use to have with your Dad when he was just a little fella, about your age!" Technius beamed as he followed Lillith out as she put her hands over her ears.

"Have a great time, sweetie!" Danny called out and waved. "I do so love being a Dad."

He turned to face Plasmius.

"Skulker, bring him up here where the light is better while I change. I hate formality." Danny sighed as he let himself be enveloped by a gray mist that quickly dissipated to reveal the fourteen year old Danny Fenton.

"Nice trick. Do you do birthday parties?" Plasmius sneered as Skulker raised his hand to strike the ghost.

"No, no, no…none of that, at least not now Skulker. You can leave us."

"But…"

Before Skulker could protest, a ghost burst through the glass windows and flew frantically around the room screaming. Right behind, on a jet sled was Valerie.

Valerie Foley to be exact.

"Hold still you little creep!" she commanded as Tucker froze in place. "Not you hon, the other little creep." She pulled a weapon from her belt as the ghost flew back out the window and Valerie in hot pursuit.

"Don't forget to pick up milk on your way home!" Tucker yelled out the window after her.

"Whatever that girl saw in you, in either of you two is beyond me!" Vlad said in a low voice.

"Hey, I don't mind that she totes the gun in the family, as long as she's not shooting at me. She's one of the top law enforcement officers in the Ghost Zone." Tucker said as he headed out the door. Danny pointed to Skulker and he followed, reluctantly.

"I will be just outside the door…"

"Thank you, General." Danny smiled as Skulker closed the door behind him.

"Well, now it's just us two. Just like old times." Danny smiled brightly as he hopped up on the ornately carved mahogany desk.

"So, the rumors are true. You are the King of the Ghost Zone. I knew there was someone powerful around who took all my leaders away from me, but I hardly figured it was you." Vlad said calmly.

"Fraid so Vlad. Hey, I didn't want to be King. Last thing I had on my mind when I passed over, must have been, oh some two hundred years ago."

"Two hundred and eighty six, to be exact. You always were bad at math, my boy." Vlad smiled. "A long time to be dead. Don't you miss the real world?"

"No. This world is as real as that one. Life is eternal. It just moves in phases of time and space. Everyone moves on to another realm. My parents live on a lovely planet very similar to Earth. My sister is there too when she's not traveling about giving medical aid to those who need it."

"But what ever happened to Danny Fenton of Earth?" Vlad wondered.

"Well after you disappeared into the Ghost Zone after I kicked your sorry butt for the last time, Sam and I lived a very happy life with our children. We had five in all. Remember, I warned you what would happen when you picked on my son…"

"Ah yes! Danny Jr. . When he turned fourteen his powers manifested themselves! Since I never had you as a son, I figured you owed me."

"You stole my son from me. Stupid move Vlad. I expected better from you." Danny said flatly, picking up a blue paperweight from his desk and rolling it in his hands. "That was our last battle, at least on Earth. I won, got my son back before you could corrupt him and managed to banish you to the Ghost Zone."

Vlad let out a loud laugh.

"You think you banished me! Oh, that's rich!" Vlad said with a laughing sneer. "I just decided to take the battle elsewhere. You never have been in control, of your powers or your life…."

Danny's eyes flashed green as he threw the paperweight to the floor, smashing it into a million fragments.

"Or your temper, it would seem." Vlad finished.

"I don't like when people make me loose my temper, least of all,

you!" Danny seethed. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. Reaching out his hand, he made the orb re-assemble itself and held it out to show Vlad.

"No control of my powers? I'd love to see you try that."

"No need to show off, my boy. Maybe I have underestimated you after all." Vlad sighed wearily. He was much older now, and tired. He had led an unsuccessful war against the young King, ordained by the Band of Ancients, advised by The Master of Time. What was left for him?

"So Daniel, it has come down to this. I am your prisoner. What plans do you have for your dear Uncle Vlad?"

"As you know, I've been very merciful to my enemies, at least those who pledge their loyalty to me. It's taken me a long time to re-build what you destroyed, Vlad. Across the street from here is an orphanage. Many children were separated from their parents, thanks to you. We have found homes for many and continue to search for parents, all because of you."

"War exacts a terrible price. Don't tell me you didn't stomp on a few peasants in your campaign to destroy me, Daniel!" Vlad said hotly.

"No! I did not!" Danny returned with equal heat in his young voice. "I would have captured you sooner, but I spent time trying to help those you hurt. This part of the Ghost Zone is alive and growing. It's a lot like Earth. My job is too seek out those far flung peoples and bring them together under one united Ghost Zone where everyone shares in the wealth." There was a great deal of pride in Danny's voice.

"Hummm…and all this? This palace, these little bobbles you parade about in?" Vlad pointed to the crown on the desk to Danny's left. "You have a large family Daniel, what is it, fourteen children? I can imagine the people as you call them, must not enjoy having to support your family and this palace from the taxes they pay?"

Danny gave Vlad as wry smile as he hopped down off the desk. Spreading his arms out, he answered his nemesis.

"All this, the palace, the jewels, the allowance for my family, that money comes from a gift, Vlad."

"Who would be stupid enough to give you such an extravagant gift?"

"You." Danny said flatly, dropping his arms to his side.

"Me!"

"Yes, you! See, when you ditched us in the real world you didn't keep track of the time. Seven years later, Vlad Masters was declared legally dead and according to his will, Danny Fenton was sole heir to his estate. You must have changed your will in one of your weaker moments." Danny smiled. "With the help of the Ancient Council of Ghosts and Clockwork, I was able to transfer the bulk of your estate to fund my life here and sill leave my earthly family with a nice income for generations to come. So, I suppose I should thank you Vlad. Yes, thank you Vlad, for all this! Sam and I both appreciate your generosity."

Vlad growled as he pulled at his restraints.

"So," he said in a nasty voice. "you have it all! My fortune, your charming wife, a houseful of children. However did you find the time to have fourteen children and be at war with me? I have underestimated you, Daniel, on that point at least!"

Danny smiled a big smile with a slight blush in his cheeks.

"What can I say? I love my wife. I guess I've always loved Sam, even when I didn't know I did. Fact is, I remember once you told me I would marry her, that you even approved of the match."

"Maybe I did, but it was ages ago and my memory isn't what it once was. So, enough of the small talk. What do you plan to do with me?" Vlad asked plainly.

Danny walked to the back of the desk and sat down, giving Vlad a long hard look.

"That is up to you, Plasmius."

Danny opened the desk drawer and pulled out two large formal looking documents drawn up of fine parchment paper.

"This one," he explained holding up one of the papers, "is a full pardon. Sign this and you're a free man. There is one catch though, in signing this document you give your allegiance to me and only me, but you will also have a seat on my council. You're a wise man Vlad and I always have valued your advise. You would be a worthy addition to the council."

"And then, the other?" Vlad pointed his cuffed hands to the other document.

"Ah, this one?" Danny said, putting down the pardon and picking up the other. "This is a death sentence. As King of the Ghost Zone I alone have the power to perform Spectral Executions. I have done a few and do not enjoy it in the least. It will be done in public, no back door executions in my realm. So, the choice is yours Vlad. Live and have a place at my side or die. It's that simple."

"How dare you! Where do you get off threatening me! Vlad Plasmius!"

"You have no idea who you're dealing with. I may look the part, but I am no boy of fourteen. I am a man and the most powerful ghost ever to exist anywhere. I only took my old form to make you feel more at ease in speaking to me." Danny said in a quiet, but authoritative voice. He rose from his chair and placed the two documents side by side at the edge of the desk.

"You have five minutes to decide, Plasmius. When I return I expect you to have signed one of these two documents."

"And if I don't sign?"

"It's death for sure. I'll give you five minutes…oh and in case you're wondering, I have gotten a lot better at math than I was at fourteen." Danny said with a wicked smile as he turned and walked out of the office.

"Daniel!" Vlad yelled after him, but Danny kept walking…

"Daniel…Daniel…Daniel!"

Vlad Masters woke with a terrible start. He had yelled so loud in his dream that he woke himself up.

He took a deep breath to calm his racing heart as he clutched his chest. Never had a dream seemed so real. Throwing the plush down covers from the bed, he got up and slipped a black silk robe over his matching pajamas as he headed out of his room. He needed to walk off the fright he had just had and made his way down the dark corridor and the curved staircase to the foyer. He headed for his private study where he opened the fireplace and went down the torch lit stairway to his secret lab.

"I can only imagine that dream was sent to me as a warning by that Clockwork fellow," Vlad muttered as he went to a far corner of his lab.

"Somehow he intercepted my Dream Disruptor, re-programmed it and sent it back to me! How very kind of him, I must return the favor."

In a domed glass was a plain clay flowerpot. In the center of the dirt filled pot was the Black Rose he had pried from Danny's hand. An overhead light simulated the moonlight necessary to bring life to the plant which it was. The single stemmed rose was beginning to take root and tiny offshoots were starting to burst from the main stem.

Vlad smiled darkly.

"What an amazing plant! It was worth going back to save Daniel, just to get my hands on this treasure!" He pulled up a stool and sat with his elbows on the table, his hands propping up his chin, looking like a child just before Christmas morning. However, there was nothing childlike or good in his heart.

"This will take some time to grow, but I am a patient man. The power within this plant will be harnessed to my bidding. I can mutate it or use it whole, but one thing is for certain, little Danny Fenton is going to be in for the shock of his life!" Vlad chuckled as he got up as walked across his lab and stood under the main bank of lights in the center of the room.

"Your time has run out Daniel! Your Uncle Uriah had the right idea, but wrong plan. Magic can only do so much, but technology, my dear boy, can do wonders when placed in the proper hands and I have them Daniel!"

Vlad's face grew dark and his eyes glowed red with his evil intent.

"If you will not be my son willingly, then by all that is Dark, I will take you with the power I will harness from this rose and you will dance to my tune, boy! Count on it!"

Epilogue

"Clockwork! You must be mad!" the first Observant ranted at the Master of Time as he adjusted one of the many clocks in his home.

"Plasmius has the Black Rose and intends to use it again on the boy!" the second Observant said in a deep warning voice. They had just watched Vlad's mad rant on Clockwork's Time Portal and were disturbed by his revelation.

"Everything is as it should be," Clockwork said calmly as he changed into his adult form from the child he'd been moments before. "Besides, you placed Danny Fenton in my care. It is up to me to oversee his future."

"You must stop him!" the first Observant demanded, pointing a long bony finger.

"And where is Dan Phantom? If he stole your Time Watch, he could be anywhere in Time!" the second Observant stressed.

"We've been over this before," Clockwork sighed as he leaned on his staff. "Danny must face many obstacles to become who he is to be…ah, my visitor has arrived!"

Through a doorway a timid looking ghost walked. He reached up and adjusted his glasses nervously.

"Ghostwriter, I'm glad to see Walker had the good sense to release you." Clockwork smiled, transforming into his elder self.

"Yes. I was rather surprised myself! I asked him why Clockwork of all people would want me. He told me I would find out when I arrived, so here I am!" Ghostwriter said with a half laugh and weak smile.

"You let a child get the better of you. You should know better." Clockwork chastised as he put a gloved hand on the specter's shoulder.

"If you had been there…" the ghost growled, the became quiet when he realized who he was talking to. Clockwork was one of the most powerful ghosts in the Ghost Zone, and responsible for his release.

Clockwork let out a sigh.

"I know, Danny can be quite a handful. I have first hand experience."

"What is the reason he is here?" the first Observant demanded, more than asked.

Ghostwriter rolled his eyes.

"Oh great! The Seeing Eye is here!" he snarled.

"They are here on another matter, nothing that concerns you." Clockwork soothed as he changed back to his child form.

"Then what do you want of me?"

"A very simple task." Clockwork motioned with his staff for Ghostwriter to follow him. He went across the room to a table where a crystal chest sat. It was sealed with a golden latch. Ghostwriter peered in through the finely scroll etching.

"The Book of The Ghostmaster!"

"The very same." Clockwork replied, floating to the other side of the table. He watched as Clockwork reached out and gently touched the crystal chest, his eyes wide with awe.

"Legend says that this book was destroyed! Why do you have it?"

"There is a friend of Danny Fenton's, a Tucker Foley."

"I know of him, what does he have to do….no!" Ghostwriter shook is head, running a hand through his unkempt dark hair.

"Tucker Foley is the Ghostmaster. I need you to guard and protect this book until he is ready to assume that responsibility." Clockwork explained simply.

Ghostwriter peered closer at the case.

"The seal has been broken."

"Yes. It was necessary. Tucker had to use the book in order to save Danny. He is too young to have the book touch him in such a violent manner. He is frightened now. He threw the book into a fire to destroy it, but I could not let him alter his timeline in that manner."

Ghostwriter looked at Clockwork as he transformed again into an adult.

"Will he use his gifts to help us? So many have used it to harm our kind. I will not be party to that."

"If he stays true to his timeline, Tucker Foley will be the greatest of all Ghostmasters and an aid to Danny Phantom in his fight for good. So, will you accept this charge I give you?"

"Yes, yes I will." Ghostwriter said, picking up the chest by it's two golden handles. "I take it you have the key to open this?"

Clockwork nodded.

"Fine, I'll guard it with my afterlife. I have a nice quiet place in my study where I do most my work. It will be safest there, and thank you."

"It's a fearsome responsibility you carry, Ghostwriter." the second Observant intoned darkly.

Ghostwriter smiled at the two Observants, holding the chest tightly.

"I know that. I respect it too, but the chance to be this close to a living piece of history…the history of our race touching another race! This is the greatest moment for me! I am caretaker for what could be the future of the Ghost Zone!"

"Then perhaps you'd best be on your way. Good luck to you, Ghostwriter, and please, if you have any future problems with young Danny, don't fight him, call on me?" Clockwork offered with a smile as Ghostwriter nodded and disappeared with the chest.

"Well, that takes care of that." Clockwork smiled as he turned to face the Observants when a bloodcurdling cry echoed down the hall.

"What was that?" the first Observant asked.

"Better yet, who was that?" the second added with alarm.

"As to your inquiry pertaining to Dan Phantom, if you would like the answer to that question, then follow me." Clockwork said casually as he drifted down the hall, changing again into the elderly version of himself.

They stopped in a large room with a crystal dome in the center. Inside was Dan Phantom, being pulled and prodded by two small ghosts.

"C'mon Uncle Dan! I wanna play Cowboy now!" the high spirited voice of Youngblood called out as he changed into his cowboy suit and flung himself on Dan's back.

"We played Cowboy three hours ago! I wanna play Hide and Seek!" came the shrill voice of Box Lunch as she latched herself to Dan's arm tightly.

Dan looked up and saw the elderly Clockwork with the Observants and managed to breakaway from the children to storm over to him.

"Clockwork! Enough is enough! Let me out of here!" the ghost roared while the children about him, giggling.

"You stole something from me, or at least mine in the possession of Danny Fenton. Return my Time Watch and I'll put you back into your Fenton Thermos." Clockwork said pleasantly.

Dan pounded on the crystal barrier that held him prisoner.

"No way! I'm not going back there! I did what you asked, I saved Danny now I deserve something for that!"

"Yes, yes you do. Your reward is a safe haven in the prison Danny put you in, either that or stay here with the children, until I find other more suitable playmates for you."

"I'll break out of here!" Dan threatened as Box Lunch threw her arms

around Dan's neck and planted a big kiss on his cheek!

"AUUUGGGHHH!"

"Even you cannot break free from my crystal prison," Clockwork pointed his staff at Dan. "No, either you stay in there or go back to the thermos, your choice."

"Don't put him back! We're having a blast!" Youngblood cried out as he changed his left hand into a lasso and threw it around Dan, catching him at the waist.

"This isn't fair! My powers are neutralized in here!" Dan yelled out as Youngblood pulled the ghost and flung him across the dome.

Clockwork turned to the Observants and motioned for them to follow him out of the room.

"You see, everything is as it should be. You Observants worry too much."

"Clockwork!" Dan yelled, his voice almost breaking under the stress he was undergoing. "Don't leave me here with these brats! Clockwork…CLOCKWORK!"

THE END


End file.
